Networks, Learning and the Lifecycle

This empirically-driven paper presents a conceptual framework relating the use of inter-organisational networks to learning, moderated by the firm and industry lifecycles. The data imply that the ability to fundamentally change network focus, which we have called network revolution, could enhance firm learning. This network-structure-process-learning nexus is explored by combining the entrepreneurial and industrial, marketing and purchasing (IMP) literatures. We suggest that bringing these two literatures together in this way will contribute to expanding the scope of network studies by focusing on the dynamic processes and learning outcomes of networks, both from an intentional (revolutionary) and from an emergent (evolutionary) perspective.