Design and Management of Interfirm Networks

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-ix

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2. Design and Management of Interfirm Networks: An Introduction

   • Josef Windsperger, Gérard Cliquet, George W. J. Hendrikse, Marijana Srećković

   Pages 1-9

3. Franchise Networks

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 11-11

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   2. Innovation Climate in Plural Form Franchise Networks: The Mediator Role of Mutual Learning

      • Nguyen Minh Ngoc, Gérard Cliquet

      Pages 13-32

   3. They Are Jolly Good Fellows! A Framework for Antecedents and Consequences of Peer Trust in Franchise Networks

      • Evelien P. M. Croonen, Reinder Hamming

      Pages 33-56

   4. Business Model Innovation in Franchising: Rethinking the Franchising Taxonomy

      • Cary Di Lernia, Andrew Terry

      Pages 57-74

   5. Why Adopt Microfranchising? Evidence from Brazil on an Organizational Innovation Designed to Face New Challenges

      • Rubens Nunes, Vivian-Lara S. Silva, Muriel Fadairo, Maria Sylvia M. Saes

      Pages 75-89

   6. Strategic CSR and the Competitive Advantage of Franchise Firms

      • Maria Jell-Ojobor

      Pages 91-111

   7. Institutional Influences of Professional Associations and Franchise Organizations on Competitiveness of the Healthcare Clinics

      • Nina Gorovaia, Guillermo Navarro Sanfelix, Francisco Puig

      Pages 113-131

   8. Management of Franchising Networks: Seven Principles for Fair Franchise Advisory Councils

      • Evelien P. M. Croonen, Ivo Bleeker

      Pages 133-154

   9. Decision Model to Locate a Franchisee Applied to a Fast-Food Restaurant

      • José Daniel García-Castro, Josefa Mula

      Pages 155-176

4. Cooperatives

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 177-177

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   2. Horizon and Portfolio Investment Constraints in Agricultural Cooperatives

      • Jason Franken, Michael Cook

      Pages 179-195

   3. Member Heterogeneity and Exit

      • Julia Höhler

      Pages 197-215

   4. Cooperatives in Modern Food Supply Chains: A Case Study of the Malt Barley Sector in Ethiopia

      • Delelegne A. Tefera, Jos Bijman

      Pages 217-237

   5. Hybrids in the French Apple Industry: Opportunistic and Cognitive Differences Between a Cooperative and an Investor-Owned Group

      • Louis-Antoine Saïsset, Jean-Marie Codron

      Pages 239-266

5. Alliances

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 267-267

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   2. Collocation for Supplier–Client Knowledge-Based Coordination: Niche Positioning, Task Complexity, and Comparative Costs

      • Douglas J. Miller, Carmen Weigelt

      Pages 269-293

   3. Dealing with the Post-Honeymoon Blues: Tensions and Governance in Industry-University Alliances

      • Eveline Corine ten Hoor, Isabel Estrada Vaquero

      Pages 295-319

   4. The Co-evolution of Clusters and the Role of Trans-local Linkages

      • Francesca Mariotti, Muhammad Zafar Yaqub, Sajjad Haider

      Pages 321-335

Interfirm networks include franchising, retail and service chains, cooperatives, financial networks, joint ventures, strategic alliances, licensing, public-private partnerships and new network forms in the digital economy. This book gathers the latest research studies that approach these networks – and the creation of innovation under the conditions of a complex, dynamic, knowledge-intensive and digital economy – from an interdisciplinary perspective. 


The studies, all of which were written by respected experts, explore how firms can improve their competitiveness by securing access to innovation, knowledge, complementary resources and capabilities otherwise not available to them. In addition, they highlight how, driven by an unpredictable environment, firms embedded in inter-organizational networks are increasingly transforming from co-operators to collaborators and valuable co-creators of innovation.  

• Economics of networks
• Retail and service chains research
• Joint ventures and strategic alliances
• Network formation in digital economy
• Public-private partnerships
• Cluster development in digital networks
• Interfirm network management

• University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

  Josef Windsperger

• Institute of Management of Rennes (IAE), Université de Rennes 1, Rennes, France

  Gérard Cliquet

• RSM, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Leiderdorp, The Netherlands

  George Hendrikse

• Vienna University of Technology, Wien, Austria

  Marijana Srećković

Gérard Cliquet is emeritus professor at the University of Rennes 1 (France) where he was a professor of marketing and retailing at the School of Business Administration (IGR-IAE). He has published 70 articles in peer-reviewed journals, and 20 books as an author or editor on several topics, including geomarketing, retailing, franchising, intercultural marketing, and retail branding.
George Hendrikse is full professor in Economics of Organizations at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (Netherlands). His research and teaching focus is on the internal and industrial organization of enterprises, with a special interest in cooperatives. He has published 15 books, more than 125 scholarly articles, and supervised 14 PhD theses.


Marijana Srećković is senior scientist at the Department of Industrial Building and Interdisciplinary Planning, Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien,  Austria). She holds a PhD in Social and Economic Sciences from TU Wien, and her current research deals with innovation and networks, capabilities, and business models in the digital economy.


Josef Windsperger is professor of Organization and Management at the University of Vienna (Austria). His research and teaching focus is on the governance of interfirm networks and strategy of the international firm. His major publications are in economics and management of networks, such as franchising, joint ventures and clusters, and the theory of the firm.

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