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Many European-level networks and regulatory constellations in different sectors (e.g., energy, telecommunications) without clear anchorage into the European Union (EU) institutional landscape have been subject to increasing efforts by the EU institutions to tie them closer to the EU. They are serving increasingly as platforms for preparing EU policy or for implementing EU decisions, which may result in closer institutional bonds with the EU. This chapter aims at examining the differences and similarities between the process towards more EU-integration in two different domains (i.e., telecommunications and patents) and regulatory constellations (i.e., supranational and intergovernmental).

The chapter analyzes the evolution in the European telecommunication sector and the European Patent System and juxtaposes this analysis with the literature on institutionalization, Europeanization of regulatory network-organizations, and multilevel governance (MLG). It focuses on the role of the European Commission and the interaction with the national regulatory agencies (NRAs) and networks within the institutional framework.

Irrespective of the particular regime (intergovernmental/supranational) in a certain domain or sector, a common trend of closer coordination and integration prompted by the Commission is taking place, which triggers a certain resistance by the national bodies regulating that domain. As long as a specific competence is considered instrumental in the creation of the single market, the Commission has strong incentives to strengthen its influence in this field, even if those competences have been regulated through an independent intergovernmental regime.

The dynamic described in this chapter allows us to reflect upon the MLG conception as developed by Marks and Hooghe (2004), which distinguish between two types of MLG. Type I MLG refers to different levels of governments, more specifically to the spread of power along different governmental levels and the interactions between them. Type II MLG refers to jurisdictions that are both task-specific and based on membership that can intersect with each other. They respond to particular problems in specific policy fields (Marks & Hooghe, 2004). Our analysis shows that the increase in coordination and integration are the outcome of both MLG Type II processes (coordination between two issue-specific bodies) and of MLG Type I processes (tensions between two governmental levels). Furthermore, the negotiation dynamics regarding this increased coordination and integration reveal that the tensions typical of MLG Type I took place as a consequence of the increased coordination between Type II bodies. Put differently, multi-level coordination and integration mechanisms in the EU can be seen as both Type I and Type II processes. They combine features of both categories and reveal that their Type I and Type II features are interdependent.

The analysis in this chapter shows a need for further strengthening the MLG Type I and II conceptual framework by balancing the analytical distinction between the two types with developments about how Type I and Type II are often entangled and intertwined with each other rather than separated realities.

The chapter describes and compares the dynamics in the European telecommunications sector and the European patent system with interesting observations for NRAs and the European Commission with respect to coordination and integration.

The original nature of the current chapter relates to the two selected areas and the addition to the literature on MLG.

First, with respect to the areas investigated the dynamics of the European telecommunications sector have been analyzed also by other authors, but the European patent system is an area which is relatively unexplored in terms of governance research. The combination of the two sectors with a detailed analysis of similarities and differences is highly original and generates interesting lessons with respect to coordination and integration in supranational and intergovernmental regimes.

Second, Marks and Hooghe (2004) distinguish between the two types of MLG as if they are two different constructs that are not related to each other. Our cases and argument cover both types of MLG and show the interconnection between the dynamics taking place in the two types of MLG.

Purpose – The purpose of this conceptual chapter is to discuss the limitations of the network organization in multinational corporations (MNCs). Since many IB/IM publications concentrate on the advantages of this organizational form, the focus of the chapter is on identifying the limitations that MNCs need to be aware of when they use network organizations.

Methodology – The analysis is based on a sound review of the literature that refers to the network organization in general and its application in MNCs.

Findings – The chapter shows that MNCs present a context that can aggravate the problems of a network organization. Four types of problems are identified: (1) knowledge transfer between MNCs’ subunits, (2) trust-building and corporate culture within MNCs, (3) subsidiary development and subsidiary managers’ stress, and (4) additional problems of a more general nature.

Practical implications – As a result of these problems, it is expected that the formal, hierarchical structure will remain an important organizational instrument for MNCs. The chapter specifies in which ways the formal organizational structure can help to reduce the limitations of the network organization. Finally, the chapter argues that, among the formal organizational models, the matrix structure should be considered more intensively in the future.

Originality/value of chapter – Since existing discussion of the network organization in MNCs tends to ignore the limitations and downsides of this organizational form, the chapter contributes to a more balanced understanding of the network organization.

Networks are by now popular inter-organizational coordination modes. However, there is still much to know regarding how networks are governed and how their governance develops and changes through time.

This paper addresses the research question how does the governance form of networks develops over time by empirically studying the European telecommunications regulatory network using a case study approach.

We find that the network’s governance system is determined by the dialectical tension between network members (National Regulatory Agencies) and an external very influential body (the European Commission).

This tension unifies the group in the classic external conflict–internal cohesion fashion. We also identify a second dialectical tension internal to the network among its members. The tensions are triggered by evaluations carried out by an external actor (the European Commission). In general, the process observed confirms the propositions that predict a formalizing of the governance as the network grows older.

This research is based on a single case, a broader analysis of other regulatory networks among network industries at the European Union level will help researchers to establish a more comprehensive picture on the development of the governance form of this specific subset of goal-directed networks.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss institutional influence on customer relationship management (CRM) practices and the restructuring of portfolios during the merger of two pharmaceutical companies.

An explanatory case study from the perspective of the focal actor.

Isomorphic pressures and some organizational conditions are identified as relevant factors in the redefinition of the customer, the outcome of which is the deinstitutionalization of some CRM practices and the restructuring of customer portfolios. It is also proposed that procedural legitimacy drives the change within the network organization.

This study reported in this paper is idiographic and explores one case. Further longitudinal research is needed in order to generalize the findings.

CRM practices are contingent upon how isomorphic pressures are coped with and how the institutional arrangements are utilized during the merger.

This paper contributes to the discussion on institutional influence on CRM in network organizations.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the impact of the recent financial crisis and the need for prudential management and effective supervisory and regulatory measures in ensuring the stability and integrity of the financial sector, especially financial institutions, such as banks. The aim is to increase awareness about the global Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards and the efforts at enforcing these standards.

The paper examines the impact of the global financial crisis of 2009 and relates it to inadequate enforcement of prudential and regulatory measures. The paper argues that effective implementation of the core and key FATF Recommendations would assure some modicum of stability, productivity, and integrity of the financial system. It also discusses briefly the monitoring process of the implementation of these standards. The paper adopts a policy approach with a view to explaining the importance and benefits of implementing these standards in all jurisdictions. Thus, it covers the work of the anti‐money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) global network in promoting financial sector stability.

The mutual evaluation process is a demonstration of the commitment of member states to implement the FATF standards and remedy deficiencies in their systems. However, many countries, in particular low‐capacity countries, face challenges in the implementation of the FATF standards. These are: competing priorities for scarce government resources; severe lack of resources and skilled workforce to implement government programmes, including AML/CFT programmes; weaknesses in legal institutions; the dominance of the informal sector and a cash‐based economy; poor document and data‐retention systems; and in some cases, very small financial sector with limited exposure to the international financial system.

For the AML/CFT standards to be enforced more effectively, developing countries need more technical assistance, especially in preventing the flow of proceeds of corruption to developed countries' financial systems. The strategy to recover the proceeds of crime has proven to be problematic, but no better approach has yet been articulated. This should constitute an issue for further research.

The paper aims to increase awareness to the FATF standards and the work of all the global network organizations involved in the fight against ML/TF. It is useful particularly to financial institutions who wish to protect the integrity of their system and promote stability.

The Globally Networked Organization (GNO) is an archetype of the geographically distributed, globally integrated, and organizationally networked information-age multinational enterprise. While its organizational form has been widely discussed, methods for providing strategic direction to all or part of a GNO have been largely overlooked. We propose the concept of strategic animation as an innovative leadership approach to strategic management in the GNO and offer a set of guiding principles for installing such a system in organizations. Strategic animation employs sophisticated incentives to motivate voluntary buy-in, utilizing principles of self-organization to replace the command and control of the unitary firm and the uncertainty and transactional costs of real markets. This makes possible virtual integration of the multiple highly separable businesses that comprise the value-added proposition of the firm and encourages the development of emergent processes for both exploitation and renewal of assets. From a scholarly perspective, this model suggests a new framework for studying the strategic direction of GNOs. For practice, it offers an organizational solution to conditions where process control is preferred, but command of resources is limited. Strategic animation, set in motion through multiple managerial actions, facilitates the timely and flexible responses to chaotic environments that are the sine qua non of today’s global businesses.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the autopoietic decisions approach (<Greek: autos=self, poiein=to produce) means self-(re)production and to know the constitution of the governance in the organization of a research network.

The approach selected was Luhmann's Social System Theory, an autopoietic decisions system. A historical case study was reconstructed in which information was recollected by in-depth interviews and a survey. The network results, the extensive communications submitted by the members of two network congresses (2006 and 2010) were analyzed by networks analysis techniques.

The approach and model developed were useful to identify the decision premises, which have been the constitutional structure of the research network.

Development of a governance approach useful to a research network organization which retro-feeds the quality movement guidelines.

The quality movement proposes a systematic regulatory approach, via the ISO9000 standard family. This approach has not sufficed for institutions of higher education. One of the reasons is that it favors the “management of things” from a processes standpoint, which conforms to the General Systems Theory. However, the core of higher education is not “things” but rather the “people” participating in it – particularly professors, students, and the university community – who are participating in the creation, teaching, association, and diffusion of knowledge. The unsolved problem refers to governance.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an original six-phase model describing entrepreneurial learning in the transition of place-based enterprises toward a sustainable exploitation of natural common resources (commons).

The six-phase model proposed by this study explains the learning processes involving place-based enterprises through two important existing theories: adaptive co-management and Lachmann’s evolutionary, embedded theory of entrepreneurship. The proposed model integrates these two theories on the basis of a longitudinal case study on the fishing enterprises in an Italian marine protected area (MPA).

In the case study, the success factors identified by the adaptive co-management literature proved important in enabling an embedded entrepreneurial learning process consistent with Lachmann’s view. The case analysis allowed the authors to cluster these learning processes around six phases. Further, even if traditional fishing is not knowledge-intensive, this case shows the transition to a sustainable business model required intense efforts of educated institutional work and scientific research. Interestingly, the key learning processes were enabled by the emergence of a larger, networked social entity (a network form of organization) including the community of fishermen, the MPA management and a network of scientists studying the marine area ecosystem.

This study is explorative and relies on a single case study. Despite this limitation, it opens up new research paths in the fields of entrepreneurship, institutional work, network organizations and adaptive management of the commons.

This study is strongly interdisciplinary; it proposes an original model based on a theoretical view that is highly innovative for organization and management studies; and addresses a relevant but overlooked issue with important societal implications.

This paper describes the methodology of a PhD thesis that was a study of the regulatory practices in the private health care sector of Bangladesh. The paper begins by situating the methodology in the nature, context and significance of the study. As the study involved a policy analysis and evaluation these are defined and described. The paper concentrates on the research design and methodology, which involved the use of qualitative methods. The sampling is described and the methods used included in‐depth interviews, the taking of field notes based on observations and document analysis. Attention is also given to ethical issues. The problems that emerged and the limitations of the study design and methodology are also discussed.

Organisations are responding to the deeper structural changes taking place in the underlying system of commercial competition by becoming agile and fragmented. In the emergence of such network organisational structures it must be clear how each unit is performing relative to each other and relative to the key market players. To manage such fragmented specialised business units, executives need effective decision making processes that are capable of measuring key indices quickly, accurately and effectively. The aim of this article is to conduct exploratory research into management decision making in the context of change evaluation for a structurally fragmented electrical utility organisation. The case study research highlights the benefits and shortcomings of the change evaluation approach as part of the management decision making process and shows how the findings from the study inform strategic and operational decision making within the case study organisation.