Download or read book The Embedded Firm written by Gernot Grabher and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Orthodox theory has in the past reduced economic organization to a choice between either hierarchical relations within firms or market relations between firms. However, firms are increasingly engaging in network forms of collaboration which are based on reciprocal patterns of communication and exchange. This collection offers a balanced appraisal of network forms of organization. It extends the research already carried out to assess the social and economic issues involved. Three settings are detailed: high technology, subcontracting and regional networks. These studies are placed in the context of the emergence of new industries and the successful transformation of traditional industries and regions. In analysing sustainability networks the collection shows how this process of change can be attributed to a specific form of embeddedness of economic activity within the wider societal context. The material presented here is from some of the leading scholars in the field. Care has been taken not to idealize networks as a universally applicable blueprint for economic success, but to both document the incontestable strengths and unveil their limits.