Strategic interactions in DRAM and RISC technology: A network approach

Interorganizational cooperation in some high-tech industries is no longer confined to two-company alliances, but entails industry-wide alliance networks. This article examines how industry analysis and network analysis can be combined to provide a thorough understanding of how network positions, and the overall network structure, may play a part in cooperative strategies. Industry analysis can indicate which properties of the network structure and network positions are congruent with the firms' cooperative strategies, but tells us little about how these network characteristics can be measured. Network analysis provides such measures, which can then be used as feedback in the industry analysis. The article illustrates this approach by comparing the alliance networks associated with the DRAM and RISC microprocessor technologies.