How strategy and network changes are linked?

Résumé du document

This paper focuses on the relation between the network changes and the strategy of an organization. It also provides a description of the links between those two concepts. The network change is an essential part of the understanding of industrial network. Its importance is related to the fact that a network is something stable but always in movement. This concept is useful to analyse and understand the strategy of an organization related to its relationships. Based on the studies of the IMP group on industrial network and on the strategy theorists, we can conclude that the concepts of strategy and network changes have many characteristics in common. Furthermore, they are dependent on each other in the way that network changes modify the strategy and the strategy influences the network. The studies that have been performed in the field of strategy have demonstrated that many actions can be taken by an organization in order to make choices and changes. In this point of view, organizations have a certain degree of freedom. On the other hand, many studies on the organization and its environment have been performed and demonstrated that the organizations are not totally independents and do not have that much freedom. The environment in which a firm performed cannot be controlled. The environment is always changing and firm has to face those changes and adapted to its environment.

Extraits

[...] The pace of change, that corresponds to the way it takes place over the time, is based on the timing, i.e. the importance of the moment when it is implemented, and the speed, i.e. the length to implement it. The magnitude of change refers to the size of the change, which is qualified by the scope, i.e. how many parts of the firm that are concerned, and the amplitude, i.e. how important are the steps. On the other side, in network change the importance of change also plays a key role. [...]

[...] The modification of the organizational system implies that the whole internal organisation, that includes division of labour in order to function efficiently and effectively”[20] and “arrangements, procedures, and routines used to control and coordinate the various people and units within the organization”[21], is rearranged. The modification of the allocation of resources and organisation of actors can end in a network change. The network change, defined as the modification in the same time of the actor bonds, activity links and resource ties, can be formed due to a strategic decision and an internal reorganization. [...]

[...] Ford, David Understanding Business Marketing and Purchasing. London: Thomson Learning. Page: 151. Ford, David Understanding Business Marketing and Purchasing. London: Thomson Learning. Page: 158. de Witt, Bob and Meyer, Ron Strategy: Process, Content, Context. London: Thomson Learning. de Witt, Bob and Meyer, Ron Strategy: Process, Content, Context. London: Thomson Learning. de Witt, Bob and Meyer, Ron Strategy: Process, Content, Context. [...]

[...] to refuse the change, transmission, i.e. to transmit change further in the network, transformation, i.e. to evolve all in change. Thus, in the strategy vocabulary, the environment means the industry context and firms have to decide between compliance or choice, whereas in the industrial network, the environment is synonym of network and they have to decide of their position and if they are initiators or followers of changes. Both views focus on defining the role of firms confronted to the environment. [...]

[...] This concept refers the role that the actors have in the production system the position of the actors includes also the productive processes- in a broad sense- in which it is involved and its direct and indirect network interdependencies.”[2] The understanding of three theories that have been explained is important for the comprehension of the last theory: the network change. The network change exposed the dynamics of the relationship between organizations and the evolution of a network. The network change is a central point in the study of the business network. [...]