Firms' Strategies and Patterns of Their Interdependencies: An Emergent Synthesis Perspective

Firms' strategies on product portfolio building and sourcing/procurement emerge through interactions with other firms, as well as with the dynamic environment in which the firms are placed. In this study, the resulting inter-firm relationship patterns are conceptualized based on the emergent synthesis perspective. Taking the automobile industry as an example, empirical longitudinal data are investigated with specific focus on the heterogeneous effects of various factors on network formations, providing a better understanding of how and to what extent we can possibly design/control supply networks, and predict potential future risks.