Network picturing: An action research study of strategizing in business networks

Outline

• Abstract
• Keywords
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Strategizing and the Industrial Network Approach
• 3. Strategizing and Network Pictures
• 4. Research Design and Methodology
• 4.1. Research Questions and Level of Analysis
• 4.2. Case Study Company Characteristics
• 4.3. Research Design
• 4.3.1. Action Research Design
• 4.3.2. Process and Longitudinal Research Design
• 4.4. Research Process
• 4.4.1. First Intervention Phase: Introduction to Key Concepts
• 4.4.2. Second Intervention Phase: Usage and Insights Provided by Key Concepts
• 4.4.3. Third Intervention Phase: Usage and Insights Provided by Key Concepts
• 5. Results and Analysis
• 5.1. from 1st to 2nd Intervention: How Have the Managers Used the Tools?
• 5.1.1. Tools Used to Map and Analyze Key Relationships
• 5.1.2. Network Pictures Used to Map Customers' Internal Organization
• 5.1.3. Network Picturing Is Rewarding but Challenging
• 5.2. from 1st to 2nd Intervention: What Insights Have the Managers Gained and What Actions Have They Taken?
• 5.2.1. Managers Have Broadened Their Horizon
• 5.2.2. Better Understanding of Customers' Internal Processes and Decision-Making
• 5.2.3. More Distant Network Actors Identified
• 5.2.4. Sales Organization Reorganized
• 5.2.5. Improved Value to Customers and Connected Actors
• 5.2.6. New Content and Focus for Customer Meeting Arenas
• 5.2.7. Co-Creation of Network Pictures with Customers
• 5.3. from 2nd to 3rd Intervention: How Have the Managers Used the Tools?
• 5.3.1. Key Relationships Continuously Mapped
• 5.3.2. Failure to Predict Main Customer's Decision to Integrate Production Vertically
• 5.3.3. Ties to Other Customers Strengthened As a Result
• 5.3.4. Ties to Established Customer Used to Create Value for New Customer
• 5.4. from 2nd to 3rd Intervention: What Insights Have They Gained and What Actions Have They Taken?
• 5.4.1. Increased Understanding of Network Complexity and Embeddedness
• 5.4.2. New Network Connections Identified
• 5.4.3. New Perspectives on Network Processes
• 6. Discussion of Results
• 6.1. Do Managers Perceive Network Pictures As a Useful Tool?
• 6.2. How Do Managers Express and Utilize Network Pictures?
• 6.3. How Do Network Pictures Translate into Strategizing Actions?
• 6.4. Main Contribution of Study
• 7. Managerial Implications
• 8. Limitations of Study and Suggestions for Further Research
• 9. Conclusion
• Appendix A. Questions and Themes Used to Start off the Network Picturing and Strategizing Decisions Process During the First Intervention
• References

Conclusions

This paper has been concerned with the interplay between cognition and action; how managers understand their surrounding network, and what strategic actions they take based on this understanding. To do this, we have applied a novel research design based on process research and action research methodology. We have introduced a group of managers to several theoretical concepts aimed at broadening their understanding of industrial networks, and we assessed in a stepwise manner how they have put this theory into practice.

Our findings contribute to the existing literature on network pictures and strategy. The results suggest that managers find network pictures, and the related process of network picturing, useful as a way to understand the mutuality or reciprocity that their business relationships depend upon. Thereby, our results imply that the network picturing exercises help managers to better structure their knowledge of their surrounding network and consequently help them to perceive and synthesize various possible strategic options. This adds to our knowledge of how managers’ perceptions aid their decision-making processes, which is an area where more empirical and theoretical development is called for (Mattsson et al., 2015). Our results further indicate that network picturing is an evolving process by which managers increasingly gain an understanding of their environment and the available options, which in itself leads to new strategizing activities. However, this process is a dynamic and messy exercise, including re-evaluating network pictures in light of unexpected network outcomes, where collective learning constantly takes place, which again prompts new actions. In the field of strategy, network picturing may be one way to understand managers’ perceptions of the boundaries of the firm and how this understanding affects their decision-making (Araujo et al., 2003; Normann, 2001). Network picturing thereby differs from the fundamental distinction between the external and the internal environments commonly found in classical strategy analysis (Achrol, 1991; Gaski, 1984; Glazer & Weiss, 1993; Pfeffer & Salancik, 1978; Quinn & Murray, 2005; Stern & Reve, 1980). Whereas a SWOT analysis bridges these distinctions in a static manner, network picturing represents an ongoing process analysis that in itself transforms perceptions of the ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ of an organization. Moreover, our case suggests that network picturing processes do not only result in awareness and a broader view of the network, they also facilitate qualitative changes within the focal firm including new perceptions of value creation and knowledge flows. Network picturing thereby creates new network interfaces, or boundaries, which again prompt new strategizing options.