Leveraging internet networks for strategic advantage

Abstract

Firms are increasingly part of local and global networks; they need to understand these networks in order to get them to work for them. The rise of the Internet has facilitated a spectrum of inter-organisational associations, ranging from strategic alliances to loose agglomerations of firms. In a business context, to be connected refers to the extend to which exchange in one relation is contingent upon exchange (or non-exchange) in another relation. Managers need to overcome five myths about how internet networks operate, so as to exploit the power of social network analysis and implement strategies in a boundary-less world.