Authors: Harri Ryynanen; Lauri Lattila; Samuli Kortelainen
ABSTRACT
Industrial marketing research has recently focused on the manager’s “network pictures”.
Network pictures are a manager’s subjective mental representations of their relevant business
environment. However, while the concept is found to be at the core of networking and thus
impacts network outcomes, longitudinal research on changes in network pictures is scarce.
Constant change in a network places a high emphasis on a manager’s ability to make sense of
changes in the network and revise the network picture. This study contributes to the
discussion on the relation between network pictures, networking, and network outcomes, by
investigating the relation between a manager’s ability to revise the network picture and the
resulting decision quality. The issue is approached through simulation, and more specifically
using agent based modeling. We propose that a manager with a fast ability to revise network
pictures benefits more in a dynamic business environment than a manager with a slower
ability in this context. However, in a business environment where the trend of change is low,
the difference between a fast and a slow reviser is diminished. Thus, in a turbulent business
environment, the significance of a manager’s ability to revise the network picture is
decreased.
Keywords – Network Pictures, Business Networks, Simulation, Agent Based Modeling
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Conference: Glasgow, Scotland (2011)