The Coevolution of Network Alliances: A Longitudinal Analysis of an International Professional Service Network
通过研究公共会计行业一个正式创建的专业服务网络，分析了其形成动因、形态、成员动机，以及网络与环境、成员实践的共同演化过程，发现初始战略意图产生不对称收益，导致成员绕过原意进入彼此市场，并探讨了这种张力对网络稳定性、机会主义和控制的后果。
This paper examines a single longitudinal case study of a professional service network in the public accounting industry, a network intentionally created and formally organized to pursue residual referral revenue for the member firms. Applying and extending a coevolutionary perspective (Koza and Lewin 1998), the paper explores the antecedents and stimuli for the formation of the network, the network's morphology, the motivation of the network members, and the ways in which the network coevolves with its environment and with the adaptation practices of its members. We find that the network was initially created with the strategic intent of producing incremental income in exchange for cross-border referrals. However, we also find that this strategy reveals asymmetric positive returns, which produce serendipitous opportunities for individual member firms to bypass the original intent of network by entering each other's market. We propose that such tensions may be endemic to alliance networks, and we explore their sources and consequences on a variety of characteristics, including network stability, member opportunism, and control. The paper concludes with a model of the coevolutionary process.