Work life is completely changing as social networking and collaboration platforms allow a more human-centric way of organizing work. Yet work design tools, structures, processes, and systems are not evolving as rapidly, and in many cases are simply inadequate to support the new flexible and networked ways of working. Value Networks and the true nature of collaboration meets this challenge head on with a systematic, human-network approach to managing business operations and ecosystems. Value network modeling and analytics provide better support for collaborative, emergent work and complex activities. With examples from everyday work teams through complex large-scale networks, this book simply and coherently lays out the new basics of collaborative work design and value creating networks. It explains the underlying concepts and shows how to map, analyze, and leverage value networks in a way that supports high social values and ethical practices and achieve fast business results.

The book aims to collect the most recent research and best practices in the cooperative and networking small business field identifying new theoretical models and describing the relationship between cooperation and networks in the small business strategy context. It examines different concepts and analytical techniques better understand the links between cooperative strategies and networks in small business. It also studies the existing economic conditions of network and strategic implications to small business from the point of view of their internal and external consistency. Cooperation and networks is a fashionable topic. It is receiving increasing attention in popular management publications, as well as specialized academic journals. Cooperation between firms and industries is a means of leveraging and aggregating knowledge also generating direct benefits in terms of innovation, productivity and competitiveness. Various options and decisions made within the framework of strategic alliances may be identified and differentiated. For example, it has been argued that R&D cooperation between competing firms also facilitates the search for incremental efficiency gains and is thus a competitive advantage. In parallel with a theoretical acceptance of the importance of a sustained competitive advantage to formulate strategy, there is a growing understanding that cooperative and networking behavior among small firms is at the root of many success stories in today's small business management. This condition requires an effort to develop a study of both aspects of cooperation and networks as compatible, complementary facets of a unique reality. In short, the cooperative and networking relationships of a small business can be the source of its competitive advantage. Enhancement of local resources and capabilities for the generation and dissemination of knowledge is still an issue for defining public policies in many countries.Featuring contributions covering such topics as green innovation, social commerce, university cooperation networks, and regional entrepreneurship, this book provides a comprehensive and richly illustrated study of cooperation and networks in small business that will be pertinent to students, academics, professionals, scholars, and policy makers./div

This book explores the creation of 'learning networks' and shedslight on how they function:- real versus virtual forms ofinteraction, collaboration versus competition in the learningprocess, and joint value creation versus individual valueappropriation in networks. Written by international experts in the field of globalstrategy. Contributions have been selected for their insights andinterdependence between organizational learning and networks. Looks at topics such as real versus virtual forms ofinteraction, collaboration versus competition in the learningprocess, and joint value creation versus individual valueappropriation in networks.

Zott and Amit explore the role of business models in creating value through networks. They review earlier, firm-centric views of value creation, including Porter’s value chain, the resource-based view, and the transaction costs approach. They point out that business models go well beyond classic views of network theory (e.g., topography and structure) and include notions of purpose, acceptance, fairness, coherence, and viability. Based on their earlier framework for e-business models, they explore the role of four major interlinked value drivers: efficiency, complementarities, lock-in, and novelty. They argue that the focal firm’s business model acts as both an engine for value-creation and an invaluable construct for understanding the firm’s role in relation to other business model participants in the networks in which it is embedded.

Cooperation has become the leading strategy adopted by business and other organizations. It is taking on new forms that are adapted to changing market expectations and technological possibilities in the rapidly evolving business environment. This new edition of Cooperative Strategy provides a comprehensive view of the practical and theoretical literature concerning cooperative strategies, and the alliance and network organizational forms that are the enablers of these strategies. It takes the reader through the stages of developing a cooperative alliance, from choosing a cooperative form and selecting partners, to establishing an alliance and managing the process of cooperation. It examines cooperative strategies in different sectors as well as internationally, and discusses performance criteria and evolution of cooperation over time. With insights from internationally recognized experts on cooperative strategy, this book presents extensive research on the topic while also addressing practical issues of alliance management.

Managing Cooperation in Supply Network Structures and Small- or Medium-sized Enterprises outlines different approaches to the analysis of the organisation of small- or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Owing to the increased competition in the worldwide market, several SMEs operating in the same industrial sectors have agreed collaborative market strategies, both for raw material procurement and for final product delivery. The resulting networks, however, have a tendency to suffer from a lack of organization, which minimizes their impact on the product and labour markets, and causes a weak negotiation capacity within their supply chain. Managing Cooperation in Supply Network Structures and Small- or Medium-sized Enterprises aims to give managers of SMEs a simple methodology that helps them to understand when and why becoming a partner in an SME network can be profitable for their enterprise. It discusses the most critical organizational problems and identifies which procedures must be known to become a collaborative member of the network. Policy-makers, as well as managers and executives, will be able to appreciate the key issues in creating and managing healthy networks that serve global market requirements in the major industrial sectors. Managing Cooperation in Supply Network Structures and Small- or Medium-sized Enterprises enables them to evaluate the efficiency of their organization, and to estimate both the network performance and the opportunity for further development.

th The 11 Working Conference of IFIP WG 8.6, Open-IT Based Innovation: Moving Towards Cooperative IT Transfer and Knowledge Diffusion, organized in Madrid in October 22–24, 2008, follows the series started in Oslo in 1995 and continues in the footprints of the past year’s conference in Manchester. This year, although the Madrid Conference addresses the usual topics covered in previous WG8.6 conferences, the emphasis is on the issue of open innovation and its relationships with technology transfer and diffusion in the field of information technology. This issue is deeply modifying the way that knowledge is generated, shared, transferred, diffused, and used across the world as a side effect of globalization. It affects the organizational structure, partnerships, roles assumed by stakeholders, and technology transfer and diffusion models and instruments. Industry, academia, and governments are simultaneously concerned. Although the concept applies to all industrial sectors, IT companies were early innovators. The analysis of the contents of this book allows the identification of some trends in technology transfer and diffusion issues as a part of the innovation process. The same problem is addressed in very different ways and extrapolation is not straightforward. Even innovation terminology is not clearly shared by different subcultures in the field.

Accompanying CD-ROM contains ... "26 software programs, help files and tutorials."--Page 4 of cover.