ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that an industrial network could be looked upon as a logical entity established through some general network processes. A first attempt to formulate these processes has been made and concepts like structuring, heterogenising, hierarchisation and extrication have been suggested. Networks are 'living' structures continuously relating actors, production and exchange activities, and resources to each other. The changes are random to a certain extent but there are also some clearly systematic elements. These systematic elements can be traced to two basic network processes. The first concerns the way actors combine and recombine activities and resources. The second involves the way the actors try to control the activities and/or resources. The structuring of a network has its origins partly in certain technical connections between resources and activities and partly in human needs for stability and security. The close connection between regeneration and mobilisation points to the intimate relationship that exists between the technical and social dimensions of the network.
