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There are contradicted perspectives on relationship between geographic cluster and competitive advantage of firms in previous research. Extant research has paid extremely attention to the effect of both geographic cluster and industrial network on firms’ performance; however, little studies have delineated the relationship between geographic cluster, industrial network, and competitive advantage. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that firms within the same cluster that have established idiosyncratic network resources have stronger competitive advantages than firms that have not.

An empirical study of two prominent geographic clusters from Taiwan is analyzed by structural equation modeling.

The results indicate that the degree of networking does play a mediating role between geographic cluster and competitive advantage, which may help resolve the conflicting results obtained by researchers on the influence of clusters on competitive advantage. The results also find that both degree of networking and betweenness position are conducive to the pursuit of competitive advantage.

The research shows that firms merely locate themselves in the right cluster does not guarantee they can outperform their rivals. Rather, developing of network relationship with other firms proximate to the same cluster will strengthen a firm's competitive advantages.

In the theoretical perspective, this paper attempts to fill the gap in the links between clusters, networks, and competitive advantage by providing that the networking as a mechanism for firms in a cluster to improve their competitive advantage.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of different types of networking, namely, business networking, financial networking and political networking, on the performance of new ventures and the extent to which competitive advantage influences the process.

Data were collected through a structured questionnaire using sample size of 319 newly established ventures in Pakistan – an emerging economy. The hypotheses were tested with structural equation modeling by using AMOS 21.

Results of the study indicate that business networking, financial networking and political networking significantly and positively contribute to new ventures performance and competitive advantage. Results also show that competitive advantage is a strong mediator between financial networking and new venture performance, as well as between business networking and new venture performance, respectively. However, in case of relationship between political networking and new venture performance, competitive advantage plays only a partial mediating role.

The study suggests that the owners and managers of new ventures should devote considerable efforts to developing all the three types of networks; in particular these networks are important for newly established ventures operating in emerging markets to access resources and to enhance performance.

Extensive review of available literature indicates that this is the first paper to assess the impact of networking on new ventures’ performance with a mediating role of competitive advantage. This study contributes to the existing literature through empirical evidence.

This paper seeks to explore the interplay and interdependencies of factory and network capabilities. This issue has become progressively more important as companies seek to manage dispersed networks of plants capable of responding to increasingly competitive and volatile environments. The paper draws on field studies of two international manufacturing networks comprising eight factories in six countries. The research used a case‐based methodology that combined multiple interviews and ethnographic research at each location. Factory and network level capabilities were shown to simultaneously affect a suggested set of dimensions of operational performance and a matrix was proposed to visualise this interdependency. The case studies show that decisions regarding factory and network issues are often taken independently of each other despite the fact that they may be heavily interdependent. The cases also highlight the critical dimension of time in factory and network level capability building as well as the need for developing strategy processes that take into account the interdependency of factory and network capabilities.

The aim of this paper is to explore the internationalization of digital platform firms, specifically to investigate the advantages digital platform firms build during the internationalization journey, which helps them overcome the liability of foreignness. More importantly, drawing on network theory and Luo’s framework of new OLI advantages, a new framework of Platform OLI (P-OLI) advantages is developed for digital platform firms.

This study adopts a multi-case method to empirically understand the internationalization phenomenon of digital platform firms in the emerging economy of India, which is a less researched area. Twenty semi-structured interviews from top executives of 12 Indian headquartered digital platform firms were inductively analyzed based on Gioia’s method, and a cross-case examination was conducted to explore the respondent firm’s internationalization journey.

Several novel open resource and linkage advantages were identified for digital platform firms that are not covered by the new OLI advantages proposed by Luo. Furthermore, a new “I” advantage, which is information and knowledge advantage, has evolved from the data. This resulted in enhancing the scope of the new OLI framework and network theory and further enabled us to develop the P-OLI framework, a new framework for digital platform firms that reflects the specific advantages a digital platform firm builds during internationalization.

This is the first study which evaluates the new OLI framework from the perspective of a digital platform firm to develop a novel framework, P-OLI. Further, this study is among the few studies with an Indian digital platform firm focus and relies on primary interview data to study digital platform firms’ internationalization phenomenon.

What is the scope of brokerage network to be considered in thinking strategically? Given the value of bridging structural holes, is there value to being affiliated with people or organizations that bridge structural holes? The answer is “no” according to performance associations with manager networks, which raises a question about the consistency of network theory across micro to macro levels of analysis. The purpose here is to align manager evidence with corresponding macro evidence on the supplier and customer networks around four-digit manufacturing industries in the 1987 and 1992 benchmark input–output tables. In contrast to the manager evidence, about 24% of the industry-structure effect on industry performance can be attributed to structure beyond the industry's own buying and selling, to networks around the industry's suppliers and customers. However, the industry evidence is not qualitatively distinct from the manager evidence so much as it describes a more extreme business environment.

In this study, we seek to broaden the research focus in the strategic alliance literature from a firm's “partner strategy” to its “network strategy” by linking a firm's partnering choices to changes in its network position over time. Using data on all underwriting syndicates in Canada over nearly 40 years, we conceptualize and model the interplay between an investment bank's own and its partners’ syndicate participation. Our findings indicate that the lead banks, which have greater discretion in choosing syndicate partners than co-lead banks, are more likely to make partner selections that create bridging positions that provide access to timely and non-redundant information as well as opportunities to play a broker role across unconnected others. We also find, however, that lead banks’ bridging positions deteriorate when they form ties with other lead banks. Network-based competitive advantages are thus influenced by network opportunities and constraints as well as partner-specific concerns, suggesting that new insights into the dynamics of interfirm networks and competitive advantage of firms are possible within this broader view.

The growth of global e-commerce presents significant opportunities for global expansion. Yet it has not leveled the playing field between emerging markets e-commerce corporations (EM-ECCs) and advanced markets ECCs (AM-ECCs). While AM-ECCs have been expanding overseas with considerable success, EM-ECCs have been less disposed to internationalize and have been content to serve and defend their home turfs against foreign rivals who wield monopolistic advantages. Leveraging the network, ownership, location and internalization (N-OLI) theoretical framework, this paper aims to examine the variables affecting the internationalization of AM-ECCs and EM-ECCs.

This paper adopted an exploratory research method using multiple corporate cases to focus on understanding the dynamics present within single settings, capture corporate context and allow comparison between cases.

The findings suggest that AM-ECCs, in comparison to EM-ECCs, are endowed with favorable and strong network-based advantages, ownership-based advantages, location-based and internalization-based advantages that make them more capable of pursuing internationalization aggressively. However, EM-ECCs are induced to pursue regionally-focused internationalization due, on the one hand, to capital scarcity, weaknesses on network-based and internalization-based advantages and, on the other hand, to geographical strength and strong location-based advantages emanating from knowledge of the home region.

This paper identifies the internationalization challenges that EM-ECCs face with respect to AM-ECCs. While extending the theoretical discussion of the N-OLI framework in light of EM-ECCs, this paper also extends the EM-ECC strategies within local and regional markets, including emerging markets such as India and the Middle East. This extension supports the assertion that regional focused strategies are not immune to technological advantages which support the notion of a regional strategic growth strategy because of localization advantages and capital leverage limitations. Finally, the paper expands the analysis to some emerging markets that have attracted less attention in the literature, namely, India and the Middle East.

This paper aims to shed light on how offshore wind park business networks can orchestrate dynamic capabilities to enable innovation for the competitive advantage of renewable offshore wind energy.

The research is based on a qualitative multiple-case study of operation and maintenance activities in offshore wind parks, starting in June 2014 with a pilot qualitative case study and the main qualitative multiple-case research conducted via in-depth interviews with 20 enterprises. The preliminary findings were presented for the qualitative triangulation of comments in a seminar in May 2015.

The findings explain the need for collaboration across the business network through the use of an open innovation platform for orchestrating dynamic signature capabilities in combination with ordinary capabilities. Both locally distributed leadership and central leadership in knowledge creation are necessary ingredients. The model developed from the research findings shows the need to change the competitive advantage criteria within business networks to VRIS (valuable, rare, imitable, substitutable) in contrast to the traditional criteria for individual enterprises of VRIN (valuable, rare, imperfectly imitable, non-substitutable).

The research is focused on offshore wind park business networks, and therefore, the generalizability of this qualitative case study to other contexts can be limited. Further research is thus needed to verify the findings.

A three-fold contribution is made to the understanding of the integrated combination of orchestrating dynamic capabilities in the offshore wind energy sector. Business networks, academia and policy bodies are given a model for enacting the competitive advantage of renewable offshore wind energy for the benefit of society.

In the extant literature a firm's development of its competitive advantage is seen to be the task of the firm alone. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new and a broader approach of how competitive advantage can be developed and maintained in today's highly competitive and dynamic markets. To this end, how a firm handles its relationships with significant actors in its network becomes very decisive for the development of its competitive advantage.

Drawing on a network approach, case studies have been used to shed lights on the extent to which the development of competitive advantage of firms affect and are affected by their interaction with some actors in a network of exchange relationships.

An important conclusion of this study is that a firm's highly valued performance, an indication of its strong position or competitive strength, has its roots in its regular and intensive interaction with some significant actors in its network.

All firms in this study have demonstrated that competitive advantage can be achieved by building up a strong position through interaction, learning and adaptation with some significant actors in the marketplace. Since the study is based on one setting, extending a similar study to several settings will be very useful.

The paper provides insights into how a firm, in the effort to build its competitive advantage, draws on its own capabilities and complementary capabilities of its partners in a network.