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Describes the Network of Networks project in Latin America, the objective of which is to improve access by the end‐user to existing information resources through an integrated approach to network support and development. Discusses its experiments with various information technologies including electronic communications, through AlterNex/Internet. Describes the use of electronic conferences to coordinate and discuss information services and product delivery, cooperative CD‐ROM production, marketing and information management. Anticipates the future use of CD‐ROM for full‐text document delivery.

Describes the Network of Networks project in Latin America, the objective of which is to improve access by the end‐user to existing information resources through an integrated approach to network support and development. Discusses its experiments with various information technologies including electronic communications, through AlterNex/Internet. Describes the use of electronic conferences to co‐ordinate and discuss information services and product delivery, co‐operative CD‐ROM production, marketing and information management. Anticipates the future use of CD‐ROM for full‐text document delivery.

In this reply, we respond to a series of substantive comments on our work by both Madhavan and Walker. In our response to Madhavan’s comments, we consider three accounts – “weak,” “semi-strong” and “strong” – that clarify how our model “explains” and offers insights that can emerge from our modeling strategy. We also explore ways in which our explanatory strategy might be extended in light of his critique. In our response to Walker’s comments, we adopt the “semi-strong” thesis, which admits variation in network-generating mechanisms, while also recognizing that information needs to be distributed and shared in order for many types of networks to function.

The manufacturing paradigm is shifting from being a central system to a distributed system and is increasingly becoming dependent on wide area networks for the management of information services. The information subsystem employed in a manufacturing setting is susceptible to getting congested when used in a wide area network setting during peak hours. The issue of information and control subsystem integration and the characterization of network congestion have been researched in this paper using faded information field architecture.

A wide area network was simulated with all its associated components like routers, switches, gateways, etc. by programming a simulation engine. The simulation engine mimicked a wide area network employed in a manufacturing enterprise.

The architecture holds the promise to address the integration and congestion issues in a manufacturing system by employing autonomous decentralized and autonomous information fading techniques. Results show the effectiveness of the proposed technique in addressing the issue of network congestion in a distributed wide area network.

The issue of information and control subsystems of a manufacturing system has been reported earlier. However, the network‐centric problems like congestion during peak hours of operation have not been addressed in these emerging paradigms. The research reported in this paper focuses on the congestion issue and could be useful to wide area networked manufacturing system designers and managers.

Discusses similarities and differences in the various definitions of the word network. It has come to have two meanings in the library and information science field. Firstly there are bibliographic or logical networks and secondly there are computer or physical networks. All definitions comply to it being a series of points interconnected by communications chAnnels. In the past, libraries have used postal, telephone, van and telex services to communicate with other libraries. Increasingly they will need to receive and transmit digital information—information going to and from computer systems. Describes and illustrates the equipment needed to transmit such information on‐line: terminals; modems and acoustic couplers; and telecommunications chAnnels—their speed, mode of sending information, and types. In the context of physical networks, explains and assesses packet‐switching, and discusses: the protocol X25, to be used in EURONET; possible shapes of computer networks; physical networks of use to libraries. Mentions a number of logical networks, and refers to published literature.

Information and influence are distinct network resources that are embedded in and mobilized from networks of personal contacts. A five-city survey shows that Chinese job changers obtain both kinds of network resources from social ties of varying strengths. During the first 20 years of China's market reforms, job changes were increasingly network facilitated; despite the growth of labor markets network allocation of labor had reached dominance by 1992. Job changers using information and influence networks to search for new employment were more likely to increase both job search time and job–worker matching; however, those using influence networks, not information networks, were likely to move into jobs of higher earning opportunity. These results are interpreted in a dynamic context of increasing market competition and growing allocative efficiency.

Networks are natural tools for understanding social and economic phenomena. For example, all markets are characterized by agents connected by complex, multilateral information networks, and the network structure influences economic outcomes. In an earlier study, we undertook an experimental investigation of learning in various three-person networks, each of which gives rise to its own learning patterns. In the laboratory, learning in networks is challenging and the difficulty of solving the decision problem is sometimes massive even in the case of three persons. We found that the theory can account surprisingly well for the behavior observed in the laboratory. The aim of the present paper is to investigate important and interesting questions about individual and group behavior, including comparisons across networks and information treatments. We find that in order to explain subjects’ behavior, it is necessary to take into account the details of the network architecture as well as the information structure. We also identify some “black spots” where the theory does least well in interpreting the data.

Internet + and Electronic Business in China is a comprehensive resource that provides insight and analysis into E-commerce in China and how it has revolutionized and continues to revolutionize business and society. Split into four distinct sections, the book first lays out the theoretical foundations and fundamental concepts of E-Business before moving on to look at internet+ innovation models and their applications in different industries such as agriculture, finance and commerce. The book then provides a comprehensive analysis of E-business platforms and their applications in China before finishing with four comprehensive case studies of major E-business projects, providing readers with successful examples of implementing E-Business entrepreneurship projects.

Internet + and Electronic Business in China is a comprehensive resource that provides insights and analysis into how E-commerce has revolutionized and continues to revolutionize business and society in China.

The study this chapter reports focuses on how network theory contributes to the understanding of the internationalization process of SMEs and measures the effect of network capability on performance in international trade and has three research objectives.

The first objective of the study relates to providing new insights into the international market development activities through the application of a network perspective. The chapter reviews the international business literature to ascertain the development of thought, the research gaps, and the shortcomings. This review shows that the network perspective is a useful and popular theoretical domain that researchers can use to understand international activities, particularly of small, high technology, resource-constrained firms.

The second research objective is to gain a deeper understanding of network capability. This chapter presents a model for the impact of network capability on international performance by building on the emerging literature on the dynamic capabilities view of the firm. The model conceptualizes network capability in terms of network characteristics, network operation, and network resources. Network characteristics comprise strong and weak ties (operationalized as foreign-market entry modes), relational capability, and the level of trust between partners. Network operation focuses on network initiation, network coordination, and network learning capabilities. Network resources comprise network human-capital resources, synergy-sensitive resources (resource combinations within the network), and information sharing within the network.

The third research objective is to determine the impact of networking capability on the international performance of SMEs. The study analyzes 11 hypotheses through structural equations modeling using LISREL. The hypotheses relate to strong and weak ties, the relative strength of strong ties over weak ties, and each of the eight remaining constructs of networking capability in the study. The research conducts a cross-sectional study by using a sample of SMEs drawn from the telecommunications industry in Ireland.

The study supports the hypothesis that strong ties are more influential on international performance than weak ties. Similarly, network coordination and human-capital resources have a positive and significant association with international performance. Strong ties, weak ties, trust, network initiation, synergy-sensitive resources, relational capability, network learning, and information sharing do not have a significant association with international performance. The results of this study are strong (R2=0.63 for performance as the outcome) and provide a number of interesting insights into the relations between collaboration or networking capability and performance.

This study provides managers and policy makers with an improved understanding of the contingent effects of networks to highlight situations where networks might have limited, zero, or even negative effects on business outcomes. The study cautions against the tendency to interpret networks as universally beneficial to business development and performance outcomes.