The Dynamics of Innovation and Interfirm Networks

This book aims to understand how sectoral dynamics condition learning and innovation activities within interfirm networks. To do so, a dynamic model of co-evolution at a sectoral level is developed, differentiating between a setting of exploration and exploitation.

In analysing this co-evolutionary process, two views on organisation are combined; a competence view and a governance view. This combination of competence and governance yields a more complete view of interfirm relations. Based on this, The Dynamics of Innovation and Interfirm Networks analyses in-depth two Dutch knowledge-intensive industries: multimedia and pharmaceutical biotechnology. The book demonstrates that a general pattern of co-evolution can be identified for both industries. How this co-evolutionary process settles in a specific combination of network structures and coordination mechanisms varies across the two industries. In this way, the book makes an important contribution to explaining why key features of innovation networks vary with exploration and exploitation, as well as across different industries.

Academics, specifically those interested in the dynamic interaction between networks and innovation, will find this book of great interest, as will policymakers and management practitioners