Networks and Economic life

Abstract

interests include organization theory, economic sociology, gender and work, and science and technology studies. Smith-Doerr is combining these areas in a book manuscript, Life Chances/Life Sciences, that examines how organizational context shapes career opportunities for life scientists. Based on interviews and field work in universities, government labs and biotech firms, as well as analyses of career data, she illustrates the different sets of constraints faced by female scientists in these diverse settings, and the greater autonomy and flexibility that is afforded in commercial biotech. Walter W. Powell is Professor of Education and affiliated Professor of Sociology,Organizational Behavior, and Communication, and Director of the Scandinavian Consortium for Organizational Research at Stanford University. He is also an external faculty member at the Santa Fe Institute. Powell works in the areas of organization theory, economic sociology, and science and technology studies. He is currently engaged in research on the origins and development of the commercial field of the life sciences.With his collaborators Ken Koput and Doug White, he has authored a series of papers on the evolving network structure of the biotechnology industry. With Jason Owen-Smith, Powell is studying the role of universities in transferring basic science into commercial development by science-based companies, and the consequences for universities of their growing involvement in commercial activities. IntroductionSociologists and anthropologists have long been concerned with how individuals are linked to one another and how these bonds of affiliation serve as both a lubricant for getting things done and a glue that provides order and meaning to social life. The attention to networks of association, which began in earnest in the 1970s, provided welcome texture and dynamism to portraits of social life. This work stood in stark contrast to the reigning approaches in the social sciences. In contrast to deterministic cultural (oversocialized) accounts, network analysis afforded room for human agency, and in contrast to individualist, atomized (undersocialized) approaches, networks emphasized structure and constraint (Granovetter, 1985). Network studies offered a middle ground, a third way, even if no one was quite sure whether networks were a metaphor, a method, or a theory (Barnes 1979). But the sociologists and anthropologists who initially studied networks did not pay sustained attention to economic activity, although some industrial sociologists (Roy, 1954;Dalton, 1959) had long stressed the role of informal networks as an antidote to formal organization practices and structures.Over the past two decades, however, there has been an enormous upsurge of interest in the role of networks in the economy. This sea change has occurred in the worlds of both practice and theory. Across the social sciences, from anthropology to sociology to political science to economics, there is research on the role of networks in shaping such diverse phenomena as mig...

New Firms Evolving in the Knowledge Economy: Problems and Solutions Around Turning Points

“…Networks are not always beneficial in organizing growth (cf. Powell & Smith-Doerr, 1994;Johannisson, 2000). The financial relationship of firm O can be characterized as lock-in: in the first instance this relationship enabled the growth of the firm with capital inputs and the supply of new customers, but subsequently the interference of this major shareholder made the entry of new external investors impossible and constrained the growth.…”

Resource Orchestration as a Source of a Competitive Advantage for Cities

“…Furthermore, the lack of bonding and bridging ties at the membership and community levels resulted in more The Influence of Social Capital on Resource Bundling Processes in BIDs 94 rigid mental models. Specifically, long tenures of the board president created a form of tunnel vision, reinforcing commitment to the status quo (Powell & Smith-Doerr, 1994). "It's not that everybody is fine with the status quo, but on the other hand, when you tell them all the things involved in it, their eyes cross […] and they don't want to [get involved]."…”

Supplier-Buyer Networks and Buyer's Innovation

“…Prominent schools of thought in this respect are transaction cost economics (Williamson, 1975(Williamson, , 1985(Williamson, , 1991Williamson & Ouchi, 1981;Powell, 1990;Powell & Smith-Doerr, 1994), agency theory (Jensen & Meckling, 1976;Fama, 1980), and the property rights approach (Grossman & Hart, 1986;Hart and Moore, 1990;Holmstrom & Roberts, 1998). Among these approaches, the prevailing assumption seems to be that individuals and firms tend not to comply with agreements and act opportunistically.…”

“…In this view, cooperative arrangements occur when transaction costs associated with a specific exchange are too high for an arm's length market exchange but not high enough to mandate vertical integration (Hennart, 1988). For a given resource or transaction, the appropriateness of each ownership solution or governance structure is estimated at a given point in time in order to adopt the optimal one.Prominent schools of thought in this respect are transaction cost economics (Williamson, 1975(Williamson, , 1985(Williamson, , 1991Williamson & Ouchi, 1981;Powell, 1990;Powell & Smith-Doerr, 1994), agency theory (Jensen & Meckling, 1976;Fama, 1980), and the property rights approach (Grossman & Hart, 1986;Hart and Moore, 1990;Holmstrom & Roberts, 1998). Among these approaches, the prevailing assumption seems to be that individuals and firms tend not to comply with agreements and act opportunistically.…”