In this article the authors explore how institutionalized social ties may buffer organizations against threats to survival and then even at the brink of extinction enable them to merge instead of close. Drawing on social capital theory, we propose that legitimating and mutualistic ties both...

We develop the argument that organization network structures that yield positive social capital in some task situations convey social liability in other situations. Using the distinction between exploration and exploitation tasks among teams, we show that the network position that conveyed...

The adoption of third party logistics is becoming widespread in the industry. Discusses various definitions of third party logistics and the theoretical background for the development of third party arrangements, including both transaction cost theory and network theory. A theoretical framework...

The new decade has been called "the age of information." We show that, although information has become more accessible, the increase in the variety of products has made consumers' choices complex and uncertain. Faced with uncertainty about products' attributes offered by "umbrella brands,"...

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of control among peers. Drawing on a network study of a medium-sized Northeastern U.S. corporate law firm, this work shows that partners — all formally equal and locked in a cooperative situation — have developed an informal...

This paper presents the current developmental trends. It analyses the need to develop payment standards and the content of payment instructions in order to fully automate the payment process. Since interbank settlements comprise an essential part of payments, they should be made an integral part...

We present a new class of transportation systems, the stable dynamics models, which provides a natural link between the static and dynamic traffic network models. They can be seen as steady states of dynamic networks (flows are constant in time). These models turn out to be very easy to study...