While managers typically view business through the lens of a single firm, this book challenges readers to take a broader view of their enterprises and opportunities. Here, more than 50 leading thinkers in business and many other disciplines take on the challenge of understanding, managing, and leveraging networks.

Telecommunications is a networked business, yet it traditionally has resisted a network-based view in its strategies and business models. In this chapter, Kevin Werbach explores this paradox, contrasting the worldview of Monists such as AT&T, who see the infrastructure as inseparable from the network, and Dualists such as Google, who see the network and its applications as distinct from the underlying infrastructure. Not surprisingly, AT&T is a proponent of “tiered access” whereas Google argues for “network neutrality.” Finally, Werbach examines how a more modular future might bridge the gap between those who seek to own and capitalize on the network and those who seek to expand it through more neutral offerings.

As terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda have been transformed from hierarchical organizations to more fluid networks, countering terrorism requires an understanding of networks. These networks evolve rapidly in response to actions to thwart them, leading to an ongoing struggle of terrorist and antiterrorist networks. In this chapter, Boaz Ganor examines the evolving threat of terrorist networks and network-based responses. As he notes, “it takes a network to beat a network.” He also examines direct and indirect implications for business organizations.

Networks increase interdependencies, which creates challenges for managing risks. This is especially apparent in areas such as security and enterprise risk management, where the actions of a single player in an interconnected network can wreak havoc on everyone in the network. The network, in this case, is only as strong as its weakest link. There are related problems in encouraging investments for prevention and protection, because the expected payoffs from such measures by one player are affected by the actions of other players in the network. This chapter examines the challenges of interdependent security (IDS) and strategies for addressing these, including coordination with broader networks such as industry organizations and government.

As manufacturing supply chains have moved from vertically integrated factories to diffused networks, manufacturers need to manage complex, global webs of suppliers. In this chapter, Netessine examines supply networks in two industries in particular: automobiles, and aerospace and defense. He explores how different strategies and technologies have helped companies manage, organize, and capitalize on their networks of suppliers. He discusses how Japanese automakers have used partnerships to outperform their U.S. rivals, who have taken a more adversarial approach to their suppliers. He also considers how companies such as Airbus and Boeing have used technology to coordinate and integrate far-flung networks. While Netessine notes that the formal study of network-based supply chains is just emerging, he offers insights from research and practice on the growing importance of supply networks and strategies for managing them successfully.

Biology remains the most extensive and complex information network on the planet. This chapter examines the nature of biological networks, including their inherent stability and risks to their resilience. After a general introduction exploring networks and biological systems, this chapter reviews (1) the evolution of biological networks; (2) principles that govern biological networks; and (3) measures of stability, productivity, and efficiency in biological networks. The authors use examples from food (energy) transfer in rainforests and coral reefs, as well as the creation of a biological network through colonization in Darwin’s Finches of the Galapagos Islands. Research shows that while large biological networks are inherently unstable, some are more stable than others.

Most companies realize the need to “look outside” for innovation. However, few have a clear understanding about how they can make such a shift toward network-centric innovation--an innovation strategy that is centered on external networks and communities. Managers need more than anecdotal success stories about externally focused innovation, and they need more specific guidance than the “one size fits all” prescriptions of open innovation. The authors argue that every firm needs to find its own roadmap for tapping the “Global Brain”--the creative potential of the world outside its four walls. There are many different approaches and opportunities for network-centric innovation, based on the nature of the innovation space and the nature of network governance. In this chapter, the authors present a framework for structuring the landscape of network-centric innovation. They describe four models of network-centric innovation--Orchestra, Creative Bazaar, Jam Central, and MOD Station--and outline how companies can select, prepare for, and pursue the approach that best fits their particular business and innovation context.