ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that product development in industrial markets needs to be looked at from a network perspective. Many industrial innovations were shown to be developed through interaction between the manufacturer and potential users. Marketing can be seen as relationship management: creating, developing, and maintaining a network in which the firm thrives. Interactive relationships connect individual companies into structures that can be analysed by means of network concepts. Although companies may consider technical cooperation as the only possible opportunity for developing new products, it is also stimulated by changes in the environment. The relationships connecting companies into networks are among the most valuable resources a company possesses. Despite the fact that the original interaction model was developed by European investigators, research into this area has spread to other continents. Some recent empirical studies concern coordination mechanisms in horticultural networks and dynamics and countervailing power in charter networks.
