The State of Network Organization: A Survey in Three Frameworks

Abstract

This article reviews the literature on network organizations and interprets explanations for its behaviors in terms of established analytical principles. Tools from computer science, economics, and sociology give three markedly different interpretations of its core attributes but they also settle on a handful of common themes. The proposed benefits are a clarification of what it means for an organization to be network structured, a few insights into its origins, and a suggestion of where the boundaries to some of its different forms might lie.

Keywords: markets versus hierarchies, decentralization, decision locus, asset specificity, vertical integration, communication, coordination costs, governance, teams, collaboration