Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Switching ties, recombining teams: Avoiding lock-in through project organization?

  • Chapter
Book cover Rethinking Regional Innovation and Change

Part of the book series: Economics of Science, Technology and Innovation ((ESTI,volume 30))

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Albert, R., Jeong H., Barabasi A., Attack and error tolerance in complex networks. Nature 2000; 406:378–82.

    Article  CAS  ADS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ahuja, G., Collaboration networks, structural holes, and innovation. Administrative Science Quarterly 2000; 45:425–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Amin, A., Cohendet, P., Knowledge in action: communities and competencies in the learning organization. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003 (forthcoming).

    Google Scholar 

  • Arthur, W.B., Competing technologies, increasing returns, and lock-in by historical events. Economic Journal 1989; 99:116–131.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arthur, W.B., Increasing returns and path dependence in the economy. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arthur, W.B., “The end of economic certainty.” In The biology of business: decoding the natural laws of enterprise, J. H. Clippinger, ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barrett, F. J., Creativity and improvisation in jazz and organization: implications for organizational learning. Organization Science 1998; 9:605–622.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Braczyk, H.-J., Schienstock G., Steffensen B., “The region of Baden-Württemberg: a post Fordist success story?” In Industrial Transformation in Europe, E. J. Dittrich, G. Schmidt, R. Whitley, eds. London: Sage, 1995.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, J.S., Duguid, P., Organizational learning and communities of practise: towards a unified view of working, learning, and innovation. Organizational Science 1991; 2:40–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, J.S., Duguid, P., The social life of information. Boston: Harvard University Press, 2000a.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, J.S., Duguid, P., “Mysteries of the region: knowledge dynamics in Silicon Valley.” In The Silicon Valley edge: a habitat for innovation and entrepreneurship, C.-M. Lee, W.F. Miller, M.G. Hancock, H.S. Rowen, eds. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000b.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bullmore, J., “The advertising creative process.” In The advertising business, J. P. Jones, ed. London: Sage, 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burt, R., Structural holes: the social structure of competition. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1992.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carroll, G.R., Harrison, J.R., On the historical efficiency of competition between organizational populations. American Journal of Sociology 1994; 100:720–749.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Christopherson, S., Project work in context: regulatory change and the new geography of media. Environment and Planning A 2002; 34:2003–2015.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, A., How to plan advertising. London: Cassell/The Account Planning Group, 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cyert, R., March, J.G., A behavioral theory of the firm. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1963.

    Google Scholar 

  • David, P.A., Clio and the economics of QWERTY. American Economic Review 1985; 75:332–337.

    Google Scholar 

  • David, P.A., “Path Dependence and the Predictability in Dynamic Systems with Local Network Externalities: A Paradigm for Historical Economics.” In Technology and the Wealth of Nations, C. Freeman, D. Foray, eds. London: Pinter, 1992.

    Google Scholar 

  • DeFillippi, R.J., Arthur, M.B. Paradox in project-based enterprise: the case of film making. California Management Review 1998; 40:125–138.

    Google Scholar 

  • DeLillo, D., White Noise. New York: Viking, 1984.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dupré, J.A., The latest on the best: essays on evolution and optimality. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1987.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dornisch, D., The evolution of post-socialist projects: trajectory shift and transitional capacity in a Polish region. Regional Studies 2002; 36 (Special Issue):307–321.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ekstedt, E., Lundin, R.A., Söderholm, A., Wirdenius, H., Neo-industrial organising. Renewal by action and knowledge in a project-intensive economy. London: Routledge, 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  • Faulkner, R.R., Anderson, A.B., Short-term projects and emergent careers, evidence from Hollywood. American Journal of Sociology 1987; 4:879–909.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, R.A., The genetic theory of natural selection. Oxford: Clarendon, 1930.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foster, J. Metcalfe, J.S., “Modern evolutionary economic perspectives: an overview.” In Frontiers of evolutionary economics. Competition, self-organization an innovation policy, J. Foster, J.S. Metcalfe, eds. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2000.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gertler, M., “Being there”: proximity, organization, and culture in the development and adoption of advanced manufacturing technologies. Economic Geography 1995; 71:1–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ghosh, B.C., Taylor D., Switching advertising agency — a cross-country analysis. Marketing Intelligence and Planning 1999; 17:140–146.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Girard, M., Stark, D., Distributing intelligence and organizing diversity in new-media projects. Environment and Planning A 2002; 34:1927–1949.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glasmeier, A., “Flexible districts, flexible regions? The institutional and cultural limits to districts in an era of globalization and technological paradigm shifts.” In Globalization, institutions, and regional development in Europe, A. Amin, N. Thrift, eds. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodman, R.A., Goodman, L.P., Some management issues in temporary systems: A study of professional development and manpower — The theatre case. Administrative Science Quarterly 1976; 21:494–501.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gould, S.J., The panda’s thumb of technology. Natural History 1987; 1:14–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gould, S.J., Lewontin, R.C., “The spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian paradigm: a critique of the adaptionist Programme.” In Conceptual issues in evolutionary biology, E. Sober, ed. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1984.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grabher, G., “The Weakness of Strong Ties: the Lock-in of Regional Development in the Ruhr Area.” In The embedded firm: on the socioeconomics of industrial networks, G. Grabher, ed. London, New York: Routledge, 1993.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grabher, G., In Praise of Waste. Redundancy in Regional Development (Lob der Verschwendung. Redundanz in der Regionalentwicklung). Berlin: edition sigma, 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grabher, G., Ecologies of creativity: the village, the group, and the heterarchic organisation of the British advertising industry. Environment and Planning A 2001; 33:351–374.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grabher, G., Cool projects, boring institutions: temporary collaboration in social context. Regional Studies 2002a; 36 (Special Issue):205–214.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grabher, G., The project ecology of advertising: tasks, talents and teams. Regional Studies 2002b; 36 (Special Issue):245–263.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grabher, G., Fragile sector, robust practice: project ecologies in new media. Environment and Planning A 2002c; 34:1911–1926.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grabher, G., Stark, D., Organizing diversity: evolutionary theory, network analysis and postsocialism. Regional Studies 1997; 31:533–544.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Granovetter, M., The strength of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology 1973; 78:1360–1380.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hassink, R., What distinguishes “good” from “bad” industrial agglomerations? Erdkunde 1997; 51: 2–11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hassink, R., The role of political lock-ins in economic geography: a research agenda. Unpublished manuscript, Socio-Economics of Space, University of Bonn, 2002.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hatch, M.J., Exploring the empty spaces of organizing: how improvisational jazz helps redescribe organizational structure. Organization Studies 1999; 20:75–100.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hedlund, G., The hypermodern MNC — a heterarchy? Human Resource Management 1986; 25:9–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hedlund, G., “Assumptions of hierarchy and heterarchy, with applications to the management of the multinational corporation.” In Organization theory and the multinational corporation, S. Ghoshal, O.E. Westney, eds. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1993.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hedlund, G., A model of knowledge management and the N-form corporation. Strategic Management Journal 1994; 15 (Special lssue):73–90.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hedlund, G., Rolander, D., “Action in heterarchies’ new approaches to managing the MNC.” In Managing the global Firm, C. A. Bartlett, Y. Doz, G. Hedlund, eds. London: Routledge, 1990.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hobday, M., The project-based organisation: an ideal for managing complex products and systems? Research Policy 2000; 29:871–893.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hodgson, G.M., Economics and evolution: bringing life back into economics. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1993.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holland, J., Complex adaptive systems. Daedalus 1992; 121:17–30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hudson, R., “Institutional change, cultural transformation, and economic regeneration: myths and realities from Europe’s old industrial areas.” In Globalization, institutions, and regional development in Europe, A. Amin, N. Thrift, eds. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hudson, R., The learning economy, the learning firm and the learning region: a sympathetic critique of the limits to Learning. European Urban and Regional Studies 1999; 6:59–72.

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Interpublic, 2000, Annual Report, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacob, F., Evolution and tinkering. Science 1977; 196:1116–1166.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Janis, I.L., Victims of groupthink: a psychological study of foreign-policy decisions and fiascoes. Boston: Houghton, 1972.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, C., “Careers in project networks: the case of the film industry.” In The boundaryless career, M.B. Arthur, D.M. Rousseau, eds. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.

    Google Scholar 

  • Katz, M.L., Shapiro C., Network externalities, competition, and compatibility. American Economic Review 1985; 75:424–440.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krugman, P., Development, geography and economic theory. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1995.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lash, S., Urry, J., Economies of signs and spaces. London: Sage, 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  • Latour, B., “The powers of association.” In Power, action and belief, J. Law, ed. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1986.

    Google Scholar 

  • Latour, B., The pasteurization of France. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1988.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leslie D.A., Flexibly specialized agencies? Reflexivity, identity, and the advertising industry. Environment and Planning A 1997; 29:1017–1038.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leslie, D.A., Consumer subjectivity, space, and advertising research. Environment and Planning A 1999; 31:1443–1457.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewontin, R.C., Human diversity. New York: Scientific American, 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lindkvist L., Söderlund J., Tell F., Managing product development projects: on the significance of fountains and Deadlines. Organization Studies 1998; 19:931–951.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lundin, R. A., Söderholm A., A theory of the temporary organization. Scandinavian Journal of Management 1995; 11:437–455.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lundin, R. A., Midler, C., Projects as arenas for renewal and learning processes. Boston, Dordrecht, London: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  • Malmberg, A., Maskell, P., The elusive concept of localization economies: towards a knowledge-based theory of spatial clustering. Environment and Planning A 2002; 34:429–449.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, P., Botham, R., Gibson, H., Martin, R., Moore, B., Business clusters in the UK — a first assessment (1, Main Report). London: Department of Trade and Industry, 2001.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, K., Nauwelaers, C., “A regional perspective on innovation: from theory to strategy.” In Regional innovation strategies: the challenge for less-favoured regions, K. Morgan, C. Nauwelaers, eds. London: The stationary office and Regional Studies Association, 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morin, M., Complexity. International Social Science Journal 1974; 26:555–582.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nachum, L., Keeble, D., Neo-Marshallian nodes, global networks and firm competitiveness: the media cluster of Central London. ESRC Centre for Business Research, Working Paper 138. Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nachum, L., Keeble, D., Foreign and indigenous firms in the media cluster of central London. ESRC Centre for Business Research, Working Paper 154. Cambridge: Cambridge University, 2000.

    Google Scholar 

  • Narula, R., Innovation systems and “inertia” in R&D location: Norwegian firms and the role of systemic lock-in. Research Policy 2002; 31:795–816.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Omnicom, 2000, Annual Report, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Owen-Smith, J., Powell, W.W., Knowledge networks in the Boston biotechnology community. Paper presented an the conference on science as an institution and the institutions of science, University of Siena, January 25–26, 2002.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quinn, J., “The account executive in an advertising agency.” In The advertising business, J.P. Jones, ed. London: Sage, 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pratt, A., Firm boundaries? The organization of new media production in San Francisco 1996–98. Paper presented at the workshop “Beyond the firm? Social and spatial dynamics of projectorganization,” University of Bonn, 27–28 April 2001.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rainey, M.T., “The planning context.” In How to plan advertising, A. Cooper, ed. London: Cassell/The Account Planning Group, 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rantisi, N.M., The local innovation system as a source of “variety”: openness and adaptability in New Yorks City’s Garment District. Regional Studies 2002; 36:587–602.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sarbaugh-Thompson, M., Feldman M.S., Electronic mail and organizational communication: does saying “hi” really matter? Organization Science 1998; 9:685–698.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sassen S., “On concentration and centrality in the global city.” In World cities in a world system, P.L. Knox, P.J. Taylor, eds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sellers, J., “The art director.” In The advertising business, J.P. Jones, ed. London: Sage, 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shelbourne, J., Baskin, M., “The requirements for creativity: a director’s perspective.” In How to plan advertising, A. Cooper, ed. London: Cassell/The Account Planning Group, 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, J.M., “Optimization theory in evolution.” In Conceptual issues in evolutionary biology, E. Sober, ed. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1984.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stark, D., “Heterarchy: distributed authority and organizing diversity.” In The biology of business: decoding the natural laws of enterprise, J.H. Clippinger, ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  • Storper, M., The regional world. Territorial development in a global economy. New York, London: Guilford Press, 1997.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sydow, J., Staber U., The institutional embeddedness of project networks: the case of content production in German television. Regional Studies 2002; 36 (Special Issue):215–228.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thrift, N., “On the social and cultural determinants of international financial centers: the case of the City of London.” In Money, power and space, S. Corbridge, R. Martin, N. Thrift, eds. Oxford: Blackwell, 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tichy, G., A sketch of a probabilistic modification of the product-cycle hypothesis to explain the problems of old industrial areas. Research Memorandum Nr. 8401, University of Graz, 1984.

    Google Scholar 

  • Usai, A., Delmestri, G., Montanari, F., Human capital, social capital and performance: an empirical test from an entrepreneurial project-based industry. Milan, University Luigi Bocconi: unpublished manuscript, 2001.

    Google Scholar 

  • Uzzi, B., Social structure and competition in interfirm networks: the paradox of embeddedness. Administrative Science Quarterly 1997; 42:35–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wagner, G.P., Altenberg, L., Complex adaptations and the evolution of evolvability. Evolution 1996; 50:967–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weick, K., Improvisation as a mindset for organizational analysis. Organization Science 1998; 9:543–555.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weick, K., Education organizations as loosely coupled systems. Administrative Science Quarterly 1976; 21:1–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wells, W., Burnett, J., Moriarty, S., Advertising principles and practices. Upper Saddle River: Prentice-Hall, 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wenger, E., Communities of practice: learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  • WPP, 2000, Annual Report, London.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Gernot Grabher
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Gerhard Fuchs Philip Shapira

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2005 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc.

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Grabher, G. (2005). Switching ties, recombining teams: Avoiding lock-in through project organization?. In: Fuchs, G., Shapira, P. (eds) Rethinking Regional Innovation and Change. Economics of Science, Technology and Innovation, vol 30. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-23002-5_4

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation