Authors: Alexander Leischnig; Barbara Niersbach; Bjoern S. Ivens; Catherine Pardo
The markets as networks (MaN) approach assumes that a firm’s strategy is both enabled and constrained by its external relationships and overall network position. The unit of analysis is constituted by interactions and relationships in networks. Actors strategize in this context of mutual influencing and adaptive, joint learning. They attempt to understand their own position as well as other actors’ positions and they adjust their activities and resources accordingly. Intra-organizational structural and procedural arrangements represent one important area in which firms make adjustments. In many cases, firms create dedicated intra-organizational units (or departments) to manage the firm’s interactions and relationships with other actors in the network. Dedicated interface units lead to structural differentiation within the firm. These intraorganizational interface units require an alignment process in order to create appropriate intraorganizational actor bonds, activity links, and resource ties. The purpose of our research is to analyze interface unit differentiation and alignment. For this purpose, we focus on key account management (KAM) units inside industrial firms. Our research approach is a case study that includes 35 in-depth interviews conducted with two KAM units as well as related interface units in the German branch of a large European industrial company.
Journal: n.a. (n.a. – n.a.)
Web Address: n.a.
Publish Year: 2016
Conference: Poznan, Poland (2016)