Authors: Åsa Hagberg-Andersson
Abstract
As competition nowadays very much takes place between networks (Möller and Halinen 1999
Ghauri, Tarnovskaya and Elg 2008) the main strategizing issue is very much the one of
interaction between network actors. Areas of interest to study are how cooperation partners can
support each other in their activities of maintaining and improving their competitive advantage in
the supply network and the development. One of the managers most important task is to combine
the resources with the opportunities in the surroundings of the company (Grant 2005). In this
way the resources can be developed according to the changes in the market and outside
surroundings and demands of the company. Survival depends to a large degree on the companies’
creativity, innovation, discovery and inventiveness (Martins and Terblanche 2003) and creativity
in our knowledge based society is very much considered as a source of competitive advantage
(Florida 2002).
The results of the study show that the sources of renewal lies very often outside the company.
The interviewed managing directors often found their sources of creativity and renewal in
interaction with cooperation partners, suppliers and in their own activities outside the company.
The threats to creative thinking lied both outside and inside their companies. The study
contributes to a better understanding of how to plan and organize for creativity in business
market relationships.
Keywords: focal company, cooperation, creativity, innovation, organizational boundaries
Journal: ( – )
Web Address:
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Conference: Glasgow, Scotland (2011)