Organizations enter alliances with each other to access critical resources, but they rely on information from the network of prior alliances to determine with whom to cooperate. These new alliances modify the existing network, prompting an endogenous dynamic between organizational action and network structure that drives the emergence of interorganizational networks. Testing these ideas on alliances formed in three industries over nine years, the authors show that the probability of a new alliance between specific organizations increases with their interdependence, but also with their prior mutual alliances, common third parties, and joint centrality in the alliance network. The differentiation of the emerging network structure, however, mitigates the effect of interdependence and enhances the effect of joint centrality on new alliance formation. 3

Despite all the research done in the last years on the development of methodologies for designing MAS, there is no methodology suitable for the specification and design of MAS in complex domains where both the agent view and the organizational view can be modelled. Current multi-agent approaches either take a centralist, static approach to organizational design or take an emergent view in which agent interactions are not pre determined, thus making it impossible to make any predictions on the behavior of the whole systems. Most of them also lack a model of the norms in the environment that should rule the (emergent) behavior of the agent society as a whole and/or the actions of individuals. In this paper, we propose a framework for modelling agent organizations, Omni , that allows the balance of global organizational requirements with the autonomy of individual agents. It specifies

Electronic messaging—whether in an office environment or for electronic commerce—is normally carried out in natural language, even when supported by information systems. For a variety of reasons it would be useful if electronic messaging systems could have semantic access to, i.e., have access to the meanings and contents of, the messages they process. Given that natural language understanding is not a practicable alternative, there remain three approaches to delivering systems with semantic access: electronic data interchange (EDI), tagged messages, and the development of a formal language for business communication (FLBC). We favor the latter approach. In this paper we compare and contrast these three approaches, present a theoretical basis for an FLBC (using speech act theory), and describe a prototype implementation.

While questions about social cohesion lie at the core of our discipline, definitions are often vague and difficult to operationalize. We link research on social cohesion and social embeddedness by developing a conception of structural cohesion based on network nodeconnectivity. Structural cohesion is defined as the minimum number of actors who, if removed from a group, would disconnect the group. A structural dimension of embeddedness can then be defined through the hierarchical nesting of these cohesive structures. We demonstrate the empirical applicability of our conception of nestedness in two dramatically different substantive settings and discuss additional theoretical implications with reference to a wide array of substantive fields. "...social solidarity is a wholly moral phenomenon which by itself is not amenable to exact observation and especially not to measurement." (Durkheim, (1893 [1984], p.24) "The social structure [of the dyad] rests immediately on the one and on the other of the two, and the secession of either would destroy the whole. ... As soon, however, as there is a sociation of three, a group continues to exist even in case one of the members drops out." (Simmel (1908 [1950], p. 123)

In this paper, we review and analyze the emerging network paradigm in organizational research. We begin with a conventional review of recent research organized around recognized research streams. Next, we analyze this research, developing a set of dimensions along which network studies vary, including direction of causality, levels of analysis, explanatory goals, and explanatory mechanisms. We use the latter two dimensions to construct a 2-by-2 table cross-classifying studies of network consequences into four canonical types: structural social capital, social access to resources, contagion, and environmental shaping. We note the rise in popularity of studies with a greater sense of agency than was traditional in network research.

How do organizations make strategic choices during the time of fundamental institutional transitions such as those sweeping numerous emerging economies? To answer this question, a two-phase model of institutional transitions is developed in this article. I focus on the longitudinal process to move from a relationship-based, personalized transaction structure calling for a network-centered strategy to a rule-based. Impersonal exchange regime suggesting a market-centered strategy. I then identify the points of inflection; predict strategic choices for incumbent, entrepreneurial, and foreign firms; and delineate their performance implications. How do organizations make strategic choices during the time of fundamental and comprehensive institutional transitions? In three decades of research since the publication of Child's (1972) seminal paper, researchers have produced an impressive body of knowledge on how strategic choices are made (Child, 1997; Oliver, 1991). However, most of their studies focus on strategic choices in relatively stable institutional environments. Even when scholars study how organizations respond to institutional transitions, they typically concentrate on changes in one industry while the overall institutional framework of the country remains mostly unchanged. Such industry-specific changes, however, pale in comparison with the massive institutional transitions taking place in many emerging economies. Unfortunately, little is known about how organizations make strategic

This paper specifies a generalizable model of exchange processes and develops a processstakeholder analysis framework to evaluate alternative market designs. This framework is applied to analyze a number of information technology initiatives in the Dutch flower markets. The Dutch flower auctions are the world’s leading centers for trading cut flowers and potted plants. We undertake a cross-case analysis and apply our framework to analyse successes and failures in the introduction of new IT-based trading mechanisms in these markets. Based on our study, we develop a number of testable propositions on: the separation of physical and informational processes in trading, the responses of stakeholders to changes in available information due to IT initiatives, and economic and incentive conditions required for adoption of new trading processes. Finally, our detailed cases illustrate the institutional and incentive constraints, and complexities encountered in the introduction of new electronic markets.

Authors with many theoretical and managerial perspectives argue that businesses commercializing technologically complex goods benefit when they collaborate closely with other businesses. Collaboration is viewed as a means for businesses to overcome competency limitations and to achieve the close configuration of components required for complex goods. We predict that collaborative relationships ofen assist businesses to produce complex goods, but that the relationships might also cause problems for the collaborating businesses. We find that firms using development-oriented and marketing-oriented collaborative relationships in the hospital sofhvare systems industry are less likely to shut down than businesses that follow independent approaches when the environment changes gradually, but businesses using collaborative relationships are sometimes susceptible to being acquired by other firms. Following a sudden environmental shock, businesses with collaborative relationships for activities central to the shock became more likely to shut down, while businesses with collaborative relationships for activities outside the focus of the shock became more likely to survive. The study critically evaluates and tests the widely stated but little-tested argument that interfirm collaboration is usually beneficial. The results address the issue of whether organizational choices affect comparative business performance. This paper investigates the survival of businesses that use collaborative relationships with other firms to commercialize complex goods. A growing literature has identified many benefits of interfirm collaboration. Several recent studies argue that businesses that collaborate closely with other organizations in order to develop and market complex goods will be more successful than businesses that operate independently (Jorde and

Using a detailed database of managerial job descriptions, reporting relationships, and compensation structures in over 300 large U.S. firms we find that the number of positions reporting directly to the CEO has gone up significantly over time. We also find that the number of levels between the lowest managers with profit center responsibility (division heads) and the CEO has decreased and more of these managers are reporting directly to the CEO. Moreover, more of these managers are being appointed officers of the company. It does not seem that divisional heads are handling larger tasks making them important enough to report directly. Instead, our findings suggest that layers of intervening management are being eliminated and the CEO is coming into direct contact with more managers in the organization, even while managerial responsibility is being extended downwards. Consistent with this, we find that the elimination of the intermediate position of Chief Operating Officer accounts for a significant part (but certainly not all) of the increase in CEO reports. It is also accompanied with greater authority being given to divisional managers. The structure of pay is also different in flatter organizations. Pay and long term

What explains differences in firms' abilities to acquire competitive capabilities? In this paper we propose that embeddedness, in terms of firms' network of bridging ties and linkages to regional institutions, are important sources of variation in firms' acquisition of competitive capabilities. We argue that firm networks rich in bridging ties and firms' participation in regional institutions are critical vehicles for accessing new information, ideas, and opportunities leading to the acquisition of competitive capabilities in geographical clusters. Hypotheses are tested on a stratified random sample of 227 job shop manufacturers located in several regions of the US Midwest using data gathered from a mailed questionnaire. Results from structural equation modeling broadly support the embeddedness hypotheses and suggest a number of novel insights about the link between firms' networks and competitive capabilities.