Discovering market networks

Abstract

PurposeIn 1982 two books published in Sweden suggested a network perspective on markets and marketing. The purpose of this paper is to explain the emergence in Sweden of the network perspective.Design/methodology/approachProvides an examination of research in industrial marketing and related fields during the 1970s and the roles of the societal and academic contexts for the research.FindingsClose relations between academic research and business was particularly crucial since it provided access to industry on all organisational levels and business relevance of the research. Three areas of research seem to have been especially important in the development: supplier‐customer interaction, strategy and organisation of the firm and the interconnectedness between markets. The emergence of the network perspective is seen as a result of a conceptual compromise between a group engaged in dyadic business relationship research and another group that had a wider systems interdependence view on markets. The paper shows that the development can be regarded as a discovery process.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is limited to the development in Sweden during the 1970s and leading to the publication of two books that suggested a network perspective. A result of the paper is that the development during the period is only the first phase in the discovery of market networks. This suggests that analysis of the later development may be fruitful.Originality/valueThe study demonstrates the roots of the network perspective on markets and marketing and contributes to the understanding of the development of new paradigms in general.

International research teams as analysts of industrial business networks

“…The initial studies concerned relationships, but later the IMP research focus has moved from dyads to business networks (Anderson, Håkansson, & Johanson, 1994;Mattsson & Johanson, 2004). It is difficult to find examples of network studies that have resorted to a research team and also reported how the methods were affected by the team work as such.…”

“…Since then, two features have been prominent in this research tradition: first, international research cooperation and international research teams are common, and second, as Ford (2004) notes, researchers have been interested in learning about what happens in business between international customers and their suppliers. The former feature is visible in, for instance, the high number of joint publications and the relatively tight research community involving researchers from different countries (see Morlacchi, Wilkinson, & Young, 2005;Mattsson & Johanson, 2004). The latter aspect, in turn, has led to a clearly visible orientation to develop concepts for the analysis of international business networks (Ford, 2004;Johanson & Mattsson, 1988).…”

Stochastic modelling and industrial networks—complementary views of organisational buyer behavior

“…IMP research draws on a number of disciplines and theoretical foundations including transaction cost theory, political science and theories of power, (inter-) organizational theory, resource dependence theory, social exchange and social network theory, behavioral theory, systems theory and relational contracting theory (Eiriz and Wilson 2006;Möller 1994;Mattsson 1997;Mattsson and Johanson 2006). Although this range of theoretical antecedents has been characterized as highlighting the "looseness" of much network research (Wensley 1995), the alternative view of Brennan (2006) propounding the strength of intellectual flexibility demonstrated by the IMP tradition is more aligned with the views expressed here.…”

Repensando redes estratégicas

“…Os defensores da corrente humana -que compõem a minoria e seguem a abordagem interpretivistarepresentam redes como sistemas subjetivos, de fronteiras mal definidas, e complexas demais para serem controladas por um ator central (e.g. Axelsson & Easton, 1992;Mattsson & Johanson, 2006). Os primeiros, notadamente nos EUA, preferem a imagem de redes como hierarquias; os segundos, em alguns países da Europa, a imagem de redes como mercados.…”