One of the most fundamental processes in business competition is inter-organizational learning. To create and distribute value across organizational boundaries companies need to learn from their competitors. Increasingly it is clear that the learning process depends on the creation of a complex set of networks across organizations. This book explores the creation of 'learning networks' and sheds light on how they function: - real versus virtual forms of interaction, collaboration versus competition in the learning process, and joint value creation versus individual value appropriation in networks.

Notes on Contributors. List of Figures. List of Tables. Foreword: Yves Doz. Acknowledgements. Introduction: Thomas Durand (Ecole Centrale Paris) and Michael Gibbert (Bocconi University). 1. Knowledge Types and Knowledge Management Strategies: Hari Bapuji (University of Manitoba) and Mary Crossan (Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario). 2. Learning to Compete or Struggling to Survive? Objectives and Outcomes of Scale and Link Alliances: Pierre Dussauge, Xavier Castaner, and Bernard Garrette (all HEC School of Management, Paris). 3. Teaching in Supplier Networks: Lars-Erik Gadde (Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg) and Hakan Hakansson (Norwegian School of Management, Oslo). 4. On the Challenges of Buyer-Supplier Collaboration in Product Development Projects: Stephan M. Wagner and Martin Hoegl (both WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management). 5. Observing the Learning Process in an Interfirm Team: Thomas Durand (Ecole Centrale Paris). 6. Consocia et impera: How French and Italian Fabric Producers Cooperate to Conquer the "Dominant Design" in the Fashion Industry: Diego Rinallo, Francesca Golfetto, and Michael Gibbert (all Bocconi University). 7. Online Social Networks and Knowledge Exchange: Siyuan Huang (Fuqua School of Business, Duke University) and Gerardine DeSanctis (late of Fuqua School of Business, Duke University). 8. Bramble Bushes in a Thicket: Narrative and the Intangibles of Learning Networks: Cynthia F. Kurtz and David J. Snowden (both Cognitive Edge). 9. Competing and Collaborating in Networks: Is Organizing Just a Game? Max Boisot (INSEAD) and Xiaohui Lu (Wharton School). 10. Networks, and Some Limits to Managing Them: J. C. Spender (Leeds University Business School). Index