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The paper aims to examine the consequences of a cross‐border acquisition on business network changes in the Russian bakery industry.

This study employs the IMP group's network approach to analyse the empirical single case study with two embedded sub‐cases.

The empirical study offers a typology on the forms of network change that may be triggered by mergers and acquisitions (M&As), while the conceptual framework broadens understanding of the change sequence and reciprocal interaction among actors, activities, resources and the external environment, with implications for network change analysis.

While the theoretical position developed fits the unique characteristics of the case studied in the industry and country settings, it is necessary to be cautious in generalising the study beyond this context.

For managers of merging parties to garner superior performance from the network changes they initiate, it is critical for them to have precise insights into their network. Other connected actors must also adapt to the changes triggered by the merging parties, if they want to maintain their network positions.

For academicians, the paper attempts to broaden the understanding of different forms of network change that M&As may evoke. For practitioners, it offers a picture of what internal and external adjustments may be required of them following an M&A.

This paper aims to present an interactions and networks approach (INA) to the issue of change for sustainability, which can bring business out of the firm‐centric impasse and lead to collaborative action and transformation.

This paper builds upon the extant relational theories in management, and presents a holistic multi‐level framework (the system/network, issue‐based or strategic nets, dyadic relationships and the network organization) to conceptualize change for sustainability.

By adopting INA business is able to discuss: the nature and role of the network in building systems level change; the role of dyadic relations as a central mechanism for change; and the nature of organizational level capabilities necessary to enhance learning for sustainability.

Areas of future inquiry include examination of the dynamics of intra‐stakeholder relationships over time, specifically the development of actors' attitudes, behavior and cognition in business networks alongside how actors perceive and capitalize on network embedded learning. Further scholarly attention in these areas can further the appreciation of how an INA can assist in building more sustainable organizational futures.

The paper builds on the concept of “ecological literacy” at an organizational level, and considers the specific capabilities required including network visioning, orchestration and the ability to perceive the “other” as partners in creating new market realities. Moreover, it discusses the role and importance of firm “change agent power” in this regard.

By building on an INA approach, the paper provides an important conceptual stepping stone towards the ongoing realization of sustainable organization and market forms.

This paper aims to investigate business network activity patterns and how they change when actors experience tensions.

Four tensions, developed from previous literature, are considered in relation to how they influence activity patterns. A longitudinal case study focusing on the modernization of an international airport illustrates how tensions experienced by actors influence changes in activity patterns.

Results highlight that when tensions in relation to network position are experienced activity patterns are more likely to break and form new patterns. When multiple tensions are experienced within the same period, an old activity pattern is more likely to be broken and the new activity pattern develop.

Contributions in relation to interdependencies between activities heighten the impact of changes leading to the breaking of existing patterns, particularly the importance of coordination activities. These findings are context specific because activity patterns vary according to the industry.

Practical implications indicate that understanding network interdependences within the change process is important, particularly for co-ordination activities. The study informs practitioners about possible outcomes while tensions are experienced. This study found that when actors are experiencing multiple tensions, breaking of activity patterns is more likely to occur while experience less tensions extending existing activity patterns becoming more likely.

Contributions are made in relation to gaps in investigating the business network activity layer and their changes in relation to tensions.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the evolution of a supply network and the causes of network change and stability. It presents the study of a supply network of Delphi Braga (Portugal), one of the largest European plants producing car-radios, navigation system and other related products, in order to understand how it changed over time. The paper contributes to the understanding of network management.

The case study was carried out on a network of five suppliers of Delphi Braga adopting a relational view of networks meaning that both parties of the relationships were studied. Data and results are based on document sources and interviews with managers both from Delphi and the studied suppliers.

The causes of network change and stability are both exogenous and endogenous. They are multiple and have different impacts on network structures and processes. The paper analyses several causes of network change and their impact on the studied supplier network.

The research is based on a single case study. Although the studied supplier network comprises several firms, it should be pointed out that each network has its own dynamics and structures. Therefore, though the paper makes a relevant contribution for network management, the results cannot be generalized for other networks and firms.

Managers should be aware of the dynamics of their supplier networks and understand the different impacts of both their firm’s decisions as well as the environment changes. By doing this, managers can anticipate changes in the structure and dynamics of their supplier networks.

This case study contributes to our current understanding of relationship development both at the dyadic and network level by analyzing the case of a supply network in a major European plant of car-radios and navigation systems. It discusses implications and proposes further research to advance knowledge on the topic of network change.

This study aims to examine changes in “network logics” that refer to cognitive views socially accepted by actors about the network. These logics provide organizations with templates on how to act in business networks. This study investigates the causes and processes of network logic changes and the phases in the changes.

This study relies on content analysis using text data from newspaper articles on global retailers entering the Japanese retail industry. Three different logics were found to describe the actions of the retailers. Two of the logics are related to institutional and strategic logics including network logics, while the third is associated with institutional works that mean actions to create, maintain and disrupt institutions.

With regard to transitions in network logics in the Japanese retail industry, the analysis identified four phases: politicization, reflection, establishment and evaluation. Changes in regulative and normative logics were resulted from institutional works of the global retailers into the Japanese market. The findings also include empirical description about how network changes progress through interactions among business actors. Additionally, compared to the regulative and normative logics, it would be difficult to influence the cultural-cognitive logics.

Business networks often transform with changes in network logics. This study contributes to the literature on industrial network changes by exploring the interactions between macro-level structural states and micro-level events in network logic transitions.

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the forms of change that horizontal and vertical mergers and acquisitions (M & As) may evoke in acquired firms’ customer networks. M & As have increasingly become a dominant mechanistic growth path,pursued relentlessly by companies with varying attributes. However,acquiring a firm does not automatically imply that the market position of the acquired firm and its networks can be taken over,as conventionally held.

The approach takes the form of two qualitative interview-based case illustrations.

The illustrative empirical cases within the context of this study suggest that customer network changes may be rapid and/or radical,and gradual,depending on the specific acquisition type,context and managerial actions following the acquisition. Moreover,the visual simplicity of the network drawing in the post-acquisition network environment of a vertical acquisition type is not equivalent to lesser complexity of managing within the network. Rather,it shows a greater complexity as the M & A induces more direct customer relationships to manage and be managed. The study also shows that connected network changes may cause a revision of a specific industry’s business rules,and the management of these changes is critical for acquisition success.

While the two illustrative M & A cases are deemed practically significant in strategic and social terms within their industry and country settings,further research is required to establish the generalizability of the findings to wider industry and geographical contexts.

This paper contributes to the discussion on the important role of the business network approach in elaborating the understanding of a strategic management event,particularly M & A.

The purpose of this paper is to address the effects of deep environmental changes on business network actors’ behaviors. The consequences of political, institutional, and socio-economic changes on Tunisian automotive spare-parts distribution networks during the past five years are examined. The authors chose the Tunisian automotive spare-parts distribution network for several important reasons. Most importantly, it gave us a unique platform to study the aftermath of deep political, socio-economic, and governance shocks caused by the Jasmin Revolution on a historically stable, simple, and productive business network within the import-dependent Tunisian spare-parts distribution system.

A qualitative, exploratory research project was conducted in Tunisia to assess and interpret changes in actors’ behaviors and business relationships within the automobile parts aftermarket due to major social, economic, and political upheavals. Automobile parts jobbers served as principal source of data for investigations. Jobbers were selected as key respondents because of the middle and pivotal position they occupy in Tunisian automobile parts distribution channels. For this reason, they were able to provide insightful and compelling information about business relationships with upstream channel members such as manufacturers and wholesalers as well as with downstream channel members such as retailers, repair shop owners, and repair technicians.

The authors found that seismic political, socio-economic, and interpersonal relationship shocks to institutions significantly impacted the behaviors of key actors in those networks, which, in turn, altered the nature and conduct of business within those networks. Profound changes in the companies’ external environment provoked changes in the companies’ proximate relationships and business dealings. In the short-run, these changes brought more conflictual and more short-term and selfish behaviors on the part of network actors in their ongoing business relationships. In long term, the increased volatility and uncertainty will likely bring wanted and unwanted institutional changes which, in turn, will likely create new forms of behaviors, relationships, and business networks. This new situation will cause a distrust between distribution actors and among notorious automotive brand names that are counterfeit and sold as genuine brand.

As in the case of qualitative methodology, this research has several limitations. One of them is the focus on jobbers. Although the choice of jobbers as a key respondent is justified by their middle role between the importer wholesalers as their suppliers and the repair shops as their clients, the views of these other actors are not directly mirrored in the research. Another limit is that only the most important jobbers were asked who were generally threatened by the counterfeit products and who did not deal with those products. Thus, the view of the new actors is missing from the picture.

Managers must pay attention to potentially dangerous combinations of elements which, when taken together, may prompt self-serving and destructive behaviors that may threaten the continued prosperity of long-standing business relationships and networks. As in the Tunisian case, the lower the level of compliance combined with the availability of low price, counterfeit or imported goods dramatically increased the level of short-term, malevolent relationship-destroying behaviors. Perhaps the greatest danger to overall network prosperity comes when short-term opportunism replaces the pursuit of long-term mutual benefits. Research has long demonstrated that high-involvement long-term relationships are essential for distribution companies’ growth and sustained performance.

Given the immediacy of the revolution and the paucity of research on channels in developing North African nations, this work stands to make a timely contribution to the literature. The influence of weak institutions (including governments) is a unique and important contribution. Other unique contribution is the introduction of counterfeit goods into consideration showing their role in the changes of actors’ behavior and in the possible source of conflicts.

A longitudinal case study of the diffusion and change of mobile telephony in Sweden highlights the effects on service distribution against the background of rapid technological development and deregulations in the telecommunications industry. The descriptive and explorative study advances a contextual‐historical and interorganizational network perspective on service channel change and retail evolution. Explores the service distribution consequences of the emerging, increased technological integration within telecommunications, between fixed and mobile telephony, and between telecommunications and information and computer technology. Argues that these technological changes and the move towards convergence of telecommunications and information technology functions are connected to important structural changes in the distribution channels for these services. Builds on a case study of the Swedish distribution network for mobile telephony and identifies a number of significant structural channel changes. Discusses the distribution network consequences of technological convergence, in terms of new emerging patterns of channel relations and in terms of new roles and role sets. Elaborates on some general business implications of the convergence of former independent telephone, cable and information technology services.

Public networks studies have widely diffused in recent years, but scant attention has been devoted to network change. By endorsing the notion of critical crossroads to describe a crucial turning point for the network survival, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how and why a goal-directed network changes, considering both the benefits and the constraints of the change.

This study adopts a longitudinal case study based upon an interventionist research approach (Jönsson and Lukka, 2006), with the researchers being immersed in the network life of a group of Italian public universities over a period of 17 years.

This paper proposes an empirical derived framework about network evolution that identifies two different types of crossroads (i.e. resource-driven crossroads and management driven) as drivers for network evolution. The main determinant behind these crisis situation were found in the heterogeneity of the network actors and, while overcoming the crossroads, informal sub-networks were found emerging.

This study enlarges current public network literature by focusing specifically on how and why networks change, an aspect underinvestigated by current literature.

The paper seeks to understand and analyse how integration changes in one supply chain are influenced by the overlap between chains

The paper discusses the concepts of supply chain, firm network, overlap and integration. It takes a dynamic perspective focusing on continuing processes of change in the degree of integration within and between networks. The three examples are based on more than 70 interviews over a long period of time of firms involved in the transportation, automotive and construction industries.

The paper finds that the overlap between supply chains in terms of actors, resources and activities could seriously delay, hinder and increase costs to the process when changing the degree of integration in one chain. Therefore, supply chain myopia might lead to an increase in the total costs of a firm. Further, there is a trade‐off between the costs of integration in the focal chain and increasing costs arising from decreased integration in overlapping supply chains. Failure to consider the negative effects and the resistance caused by delays and dissolving relationships within overlapping supply chains can be detrimental. The overlap between chains can be both positive and negative, and can be reversed over time.

The research is limited to three examples and the interaction between two supply chains in each case. Since interdependencies might exist between several supply chains, the effects of change could have implications for more than one other supply chain.

When changing existing or developing supply chains for new businesses, firms need to take into consideration the effects and reactions of other chains. Integration between two chains might facilitate the development of business but may also actually hinder its future development.

The interdependencies between supply chains imply that strong pressure towards supply chain integration focusing on one chain, in literature and practice, has to be questioned for the single firm. Another specific value is the importance of existing chains for the development of new businesses.