The study of organizations is another area in which network institutionalism is well represented. La Porte’s (1975) work on complexity, which deWned organizational complexity in terms of the number of units and the number of interconnections between these units, provides an early precursor to this network institutionalism.
The shift to an open systems perspective, particularly with its increased focus on interorganizational relations, provided another impetus. Benson’s (1975) political economy approach to interorganizational relations claimed ‘‘networks’’ of organ- izations were a new unit of analysis.
A decade or more later, the rising inXuence of institutional economics provided another context for the articulation of network ideas. The work of Oliver Williamson posed ‘‘markets’’ and hierarchies’’ as two alternative means of organ- izing economic transactions. The framework placed organization on a continuum between contract (market) and authority (hierarchy). In an inXuential article, Powell (1990) argued that ‘‘network organizations’’ were neither markets nor hierarchies. He argued that network organizations achieve coordination through trust and reciprocity rather than through contract or authority.
Other work on organizations points to structural aspects that made them diYcult to describe either as markets or as hierarchies. For example, Faulkner (1983) applied network models to the process of forming project teams in the American Wlm industry. At the same time, the burgeoning importance of strategic alliances and joint ventures between Wrms gave credence to thinking of interorganizational rela- tions between Wrms in network terms. Gerlach’s (1992) network analysis of Japanese intercorporate relations provides a notable example. A 1990 volume by Nohria and Eccles gave additional impetus to thinking of organizations as networks. These ideas have been used in political science to describe political parties (Schwartz 1990).
A somewhat separate line of research in public administration stressed the importance of thinking about interorganizational relationships in network terms. Fragmentation of service delivery and the complexity of implementation processes was a major concern of this literature. One common theme was how to achieve coordination among multiple public agencies with overlapping missions and authority. Chisholm’s (1989) study of the role of informal networks in coordinating multiple transportation agencies and Provan and Milward’s (1995) comparison of mental health networks in four American cities oVer good examples of this genre. The managerial emphasis of this work is well represented in Kickert, Klijn, and Koppenjan (1997).
