This work examines the resurgence of good organization as a key competitive factor, as experienced by firms in the 1990s. It argues that to be competitive during this period, it was no longer sufficient to have a well-structured strategic plan, and it was necessary to remove excessive hierarchy from the organization.

This book explores the basic traits of inter-organizational networks, examining the interplay between structure, dynamics, and performance from a governance perspective. The book assumes a novel theoretical angle based on the interpretation of networks as multiple systems, and advances the theory in the realm of network effectiveness and failure. Composed of two parts, theoretical and empirical, The Network Organization clarifies the literature on networks, offering a systematic review, and provides a new perspective on their integration with other streams of research focusing on under-studied issues such as agency, micro-dynamics, and network effectiveness. The second part proposes the analysis of the tourism destination of Venice, with a specific focus on the network between the Venice Film Festival, the hospitality system, and the local institutions. By exploring the pervasion of networks in modern social and economic life, this book will be valuable to students, researchers, practitioners and policy-makers.

Multinational Corporations are meeting new challenges by focusing on core activities, value chain disaggregation, relocation of activities to emerging markets, industry consolidation, technological change, and market volatility. In this volume we scrutinize different models to examine how MNCs can cope and orchestrate a global network organization.

Over the past decade, the Command and Control (C2) field has been making a transformation from top-down, directive command to Network Centric Operations (NCO), peer-to-peer negation, self-synchronization, and agility. As the terms NCO and NEC suggest, C2 systems are regarded as networks, rather than a hierarchy. Accordingly, it is appropriate to view the C2 process and C2 systems through the lens of network theory. Network Topology in Command and Control: Organization, Operation, and Evolution aims to connect the fields of C2 and network science. Featuring timely research on topics pertaining to the C2 network evolution, security, and modeling, this publication is ideal for reference use by students, academicians, and security professionals in the fields of C2 and network science.

This text focuses on contemporary cutting edge research concerning the increasing strategic importance of subsidiary networks to the multinational firm. It combines contributions from three major related areas of inquiry; the changing theoretical conception of networks and the structure of the multinational firm, the importance of spillovers and agglomeration economies related to multinational investments and the management of the flow of information and knowledge from headquarters to subsidiaries and vice versa.

Most effective business leaders know: * Why did Apple sue Samsung while it continues to buy critical parts for its winning products from Samsung? * Why did Google create Android OS for mobile applications, and is now talking about opening its own retail stores? * Why did Amazon create Kindle when the market is already saturated by other tablets and similar products? * How did Nokia mobile phone lose its shine? * Why did Apple build its own retail presence? * How will shale gas discoveries in North America change the business world and perhaps the geo-political balance in the next 10 years? Do you? Win big time by using the wisdom of your business networks to create, innovate, deliver and profit. Read this book to find out how.

Blockchain has emerged as a disruptive technology in the areas of trading assets and sharing information. It has the capability to transform many industries, professions, and aspects of life. The focus of this IBM® Redbooks® publication is to help developers build blockchain solutions and use IBM Blockchain Platform to start, test, and move applications into production. This publication covers some blockchain for business use cases. It also describes how to get started in defining, developing, and deploying a Hyperledger Composer business network to Hyperledger Fabric, both locally on a workstation and remotely on the IBM Blockchain Starter Plan.A fund clearing business network is used as an example scenario for blockchain and this source code is available for download, testing, and use. The Redpaper contains detailed information on how we put it together and more, so grab a copy of it via the download link on this page as well. This paper is part one of a series of papers and educational materials. Later materials will describe how to use IBM Blockchain Platform to test and scale your business network, to integrate more completely with a COBOL business application running in IBM CICS®, and to manage changes to your business network in a production environment.

Many of the basic issues of political science have been addressed by pluralist theory, which focuses on the competing interests of a democratic polity, their organization, and their influence on policy. Andrew McFarland shows that this approach still provides a promising foundation for understanding the American political process.