Inter-organisational Networks Management, from Jean-Paul Peronard, at the 2014 PMA Conference

Written by Denisa Călin on June 29, 2014. Posted in News, Organisational performance

Jean-Paul Peronard, Associate Professor at Aarhus University, gave a presentation, dubbed “Managing Inter-organisational Networks for Customer Value”, on the 2nd day of the PMA 2014 Conference. Based on the homonym study, the presentation brought insights on how to identify and manage inter-organisational networks.

More importantly, the presentation gave an interpretative framework that allows for developing such networks, taking into account the social aspect of joint customer experiences. Jean-Paul Peronard pointed out that the effort to meet market demands is a far more complex process, when throwing in variables such as relations between actors, activities and networks. These aspects become especially important, given that today’s competitive business medium makes it imperative for companies to veer towards inter-organisational networks, in order to increase customer value.

In what he described a conceptual study, the following elements were identified as comprising an interpretative network model that provides an application suitable to analyzing joint collaborative organizational networks:

• Actors – persons or social entities which are the most important element;

• Activities – joint actions, which involve the actors;

• Couplings – a string of activities that create a flow of experiences;

• Narratives – stories and recollections that bind the actors, either through shared experiences or shared meanings;

• Network – which comes from corroborating all the above elements.

Within this model’s framework, Jean-Paul Peronard suggests 4 possible scenarios, with different relationships between actors, activities and networks:

• The first, in which actors exhibit risk-taking behavior and the network is developed and maintained;

• The second, in which actors are involved in activities that create customer value, which drives network development;

• The third, the more attention invested into each actor’s activity brings better network coordination;

• The fourth, in which the actors share stories of demarcation and control, which subsequently develops and supports network relationships.

A final remark, provided by Jean-Paul Peronard in his presentation, is that the social construction of joint customer experiences needs to be analyzed thoroughly when discussing about inter-organizational networks, as they are essential to understanding and managing customer value.

Tags: Performance Management, PMA 2014 Conference