Research On The Core Competency Of Firm Network

The firm network was a new type of organization which started from the 1980s. The theory field and the practical field have carried on various discussions on this type of organization. This kind of organization has advantages over the former organizations. The organization of firm network has obvious competitive advantage under the external conditions of abrupt change. But the advantage of the firm network is on the basis of its core competency. This thesis discovers the rule established by the competitive advantage of the firm network through deep research on the core competency of firm network, providing the theoretical instruction for the cultivation of its core competencies.Karl Polanyi thought that all economic activities need to consider its imbedibility. He pointed out, "the economy, as a process, is embedded in the economic and non-economic system". This thesis believes that the core competency of firm network is no exception. First, the network itself is the intuitionistic embodiment of imbedibility. The firm network, like a net, provides various kinds of scheme of action for the enterprise, instructing the enterprise or organization to accumulate the resources and abilities. The network is the basic power of the interaction between the enterprises and the conformity of the overall strength. Second, the enterprise network core competencies had considered the imbedibility structure only then has the practical significance. It is practically significant that the core competency of firm network considers the Embeddedness Structure. The firm network, the carrier of core competency, has the characteristic of relational embeddedness. Simultaneously, the firm network itself is embedded in the much bigger net. Therefore, the core competency of firm network must consider the imbedibility.The thesis applies the theory of ability, imbedibility, evolution as well as the network theory of economic sociology, and combines the knowledge-based theory, the learning theory, the organization theory and various knowledge to discuss the core competency of firm network in Embeddedness Structure, construct the theory of the core competency of firm network, and reveal the rule of the core competency of firm network through the empirical proof. The main content includes seven parts.I. The analysis of the motivational reason for the core competency of firm network. The forming of the core competency of firm network has its profound reason. For the external reason, the gradual ambiguity of the firm boundary, the complexity of the new technology, the dynamic characteristic of the working environment all create the conditions for the forming of the core competency of firm network. For the internal reason, the forming of the core competency of firm network is the need for decreasing risk, enhancing innovation, gaining excessive profits and competitive advantages.II. The relationship between Embeddedness Structure and the core competency of firm network. On the basis of the exploration of the connotation and characteristic of Embeddedness Structure, the thesis analyzes the relationship between Embeddedness Structure and the core competency of firm network, establishing the model of the relationship between Embeddedness Structure and the core competency of firm network. It discusses the Embeddedness Structure's influence on the core competency of firm network based on the model.III. The constructional analysis of the core competency of firm network. The thesis defines the core competency of network as a comprehensive knowledge system with complementarity, conformity and originality, matching Embeddedness Structure of firm network. Through certain evolutive route, this system is formed in the growth process of the firm network and the particular environment, depending on experience and knowledge. The core competency of firm network is the competency which integrates, constructs and remodels the internal and external resources so as to adjust to the changing environment. It is a kind of competency produced by the organic integration of learning competency, conformity competency, creative competency and social capital, which is made by the enterprise and institution by means of network connections. The knowledge factor, the cultural and institutional factor, the resource factor and the market factor are the four factors of the construction of the core competency of firm network. The firm networks of different modes have different core competencies.IV. The dynamic evolution of the core competency of firm network. This article analyzes the evolutive characteristic of the core competency of firm network, imbedibility dependence and coordinative innovation. It presents the life cycle of firm network and its core competency, budding, growth, maturity, decline and recover five stages, and discusses its evolutive mechanisms include the self-reinforcing mechanism, the knowledge overflow mechanism, the competitive game mechanism, and the trust mechanism.V. The research on durative of the competitive advantage of the core competency of firm network. On the basis of the connotation of durative development and the present situation of study home and abroad, the article concludes the durative factors which influence the competitive advantage of the core competency of firm network from the four aspects, certain risk of network transaction, rigidity of the core competency of firm network, exiguity of network resource, tendency of homogeneity of network resource. It explores the impetus source of the durative of the core competency of firm network, four kinds of network conformity patterns. They include conformity of Embeddedness Structure, dynamic ability based on network interaction, conformity of the core competency of firm network, creative conformity based on network node position and knowledge conformity based on learning.VI. The assessment method of the core competency of firm network. Through summarizing the research of assessment method home and abroad, the thesis establishes the evaluation index system of the core competency of firm network, as well as expounds that the thesis adopts the fuzzy evaluation method.VII. The empirical study. It carries on the empirical research of the core competency of firm network of Bio-Medical Industrial Garden in Liuyang, Hunan.