Navigating in a network of interests

Management of strategic alliances and networks is a rapidly growing academic area. Firms have to be aware of how they manage these topics in order to exploit their network positions to the fullest in order to improve their competitive advantages. Most published studies are conducted on dyadic relationships within networks. We found it interesting to look at more complex networks. Therefore our research problem for this book is "How will a change in the structure of a strategic alliance affect the competitive advantage?". The cooperative organization of Kopenhagen Fur and Danskpelsdyravlerforening is ideal for such a study with a highly complex structure of roles and interests. The analysis of the case is conducted using the two major theoretical areas of the Relational View (RV) and the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing Group (IMP). The RV applies a more classic economical approach where the IMP focuses on a social network factor. The analysis suggests that we are dealing with an organization containing a very high degree of trust between the actors.