Introduction

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Networks of firms, to give these structures just one of their names, have been very widely studied (by, for example, Thompson, 1967; Contractor, 1988; Hennart, 1988; Kogut, 1988; Hamel, Doz, & Prahalad, 1989; Powell, 1990; Hamel, 1991; Williamson, 1991; Parkhe, 1993; Ring & Van de Ven, 1994; Gulati, 1995), and there has been some work on the importance of information technology (IT) in these networks (Cash & Konsynski, 1985; Porter & Millar, 1986; Rackoff, Wiseman, & Ullrich, 1985). But there is little in the literature that explains in detail the role of IT in the formation of inter-organizational networks (see Clemons & Row, 1992). There are gaps with respect to what IT actually does, and how it makes possible, or at least facilitates, the operation of the network. This work attempts to fill this important gap, in a literature where IT appears to be very important for inter-organizational relations, but the reason why is anecdotal.

The aim of this chapter is to look in detail at the reasons why strategic networks are formed, developing a theoretical framework that can explain these reasons adequately and that allows us to analyze the role of IT in their formation and maintenance. The propositions we put forward will be tested against a case study, which, as well as being illustrative, will allow us to make a theoretical generalization (Yin, 1984; Bonache, 1999).

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