Affiliations: Robert Bosch GmbH, Stuttgart, Germany**
Note: [*] This paper is based on a longer research study, conducted in collaboration with Yoshiya Teramoto and supported in part by a grant from DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service). An earlier version of the paper was presented at the Second European Systems Science Congress in Prague, October 1993.
Note: [**] Mailing address: Adolf-Kolping Str. 30, 76275 Ettlingen, Germany.
Abstract: In recent years, the term network has come into very widespread use in different fields of social, natural and computer sciences. This paper develops a framework for one kind of those different types of networks: corporate alliance networks. The network approach implies a focus on the network and the space between organizations rather than on what is taking place within individual organizations. The paper further attempts to consider the characteristics of networks as self-organizing systems. Self-organization may be taken as the opposite of construction or organization from outside. By joining in alliance networks firms are leaving limiting competitive structures characterized by demarcation and hierarchy. Although networks tend to be stable, they are never static. Three promising features of self-organizing networks are proposed: recursivity, redundancy, and self-consciousness.
