Alliance Network Research Articles

Alliances as system builders: On the conditions of network formation and system building in sustainability transitions

The technological innovation systems (TIS) literature and the strand of system building studies explain the role of networks in the strategic creation of favorable institutional conditions for sustainability transitions. To better understand collective system building, it is important to delve into the formation of networks composed of diverse organizations, including firms, as well as government and civil society organizations, such as alliances. In this paper, we propose an analytical framework for the study of factors that influence the formation of alliances, as well as the contribution of alliances to system building. To illustrate our analytical framework empirically, we conduct a case study of the Green Protein Alliance (GPA), a distinctive example of an alliance network aiming to promote the transition to plant-based diets in the Netherlands. The results highlight the importance of organizational motives, organizational resources, and relationships for the formation of alliances. These factors also influence the type and course of system building strategies, as well as the creation of system-level resources. Moreover, we argue that alliances between diverse types of organizations can provide opportunities to accelerate transitions by promoting the adoption of potentially beneficial innovations and sustainable consumption.

Critical Terrorist Organizations and Terrorist Organization Alliance Networks Based on Key Nodes Founding

The past years have witnessed increasingly widespread terrorism, violently destroying world peace and regional prosperity. Therefore, uncovering terrorist plots has become the most crucial step for eliminating terrorist attacks. However, with the terrorist scheme being disguised under the huge amount of data flow on the internet, identifying terrorist organizations still remains challenging. Since many terrorist organizations are prone to launch terrorist attacks together, here, we model their relationships as a Terrorist Organization Alliance (TOA) network and propose a novel method to identify the key terrorist organizations in the TOA network. The TOA network utilizes existing key nodes in order to extract useful information, and, with the help of the entropy weight method, the new solution to the TOA network is effective and precise. The experiments are performed on the dataset from the Global Terrorism Database, and the results are statistically validated through t-tests and convergence analysis. Compared with the traditional methods, our method is proven to be superior in terms of measure the harm of terrorist attack organizations and find the key terrorist organizations.

A substitute for poor institutions? Interorganizational affiliations in the alliance formation process

PurposeThis study aims to investigate how the home country institutional development influences the alliance formation process.Design/methodology/approachA network of strategic alliances between 95 airlines over a 5-year period is analyzed with stochastic actor-oriented models [i.e. Simulation investigation for empirical network analysis (SIENA)]. Robustness analyses use a subsample of these airlines over a period of 10 years.FindingsThe results demonstrate that the membership in a firm group and a high share of state ownership are more beneficial for the number of alliances if the firm originates from a country with low institutional development.Practical implicationsFirms from less developed countries can use affiliations (e.g. to firm groups or the government) as signals to attract international alliance partners.Social implicationsPolicymakers from less developed countries should support the development of (local) firm groups to stimulate interorganizational cooperation.Originality/valueFirms form alliances based on two aspects: preferences for alliance partners and attractiveness to potential partners. Prior studies outlined that institutional development affects the preferences of firms for alliance partners. This study demonstrates how the institutional development influences the attractiveness to potential partners.

Value of Alliance Portfolio Reconfiguration During Industry Change Evidence from Automobile Industry

During industry change, firms usually update their resources by reconfiguring alliance portfolio. Firms not only hold existing network resources accessed through its current alliance portfolio, but also acquire new network resources accessed through a newly formed alliance. In this research, we move beyond the collection of dyadic relationships of individual alliances and examine more holistically the mutual dependences of existing and new resources during alliance portfolio reconfiguration, with a focus on the effect of the structural characteristics of the firms’ alliance portfolio on firm value. Using strategic alliances of 34 firms in the global automobile industry in the period 2009–2018, we combine textual analysis with event studies conducted on stock market returns. By separating a firm’s ego alliance network of existing resources into core(technology) resource network and complementary(marketing) resource network, our results show that firms’ embeddedness (reflected by network cohesion) in existing core resource network is negatively associated with the value of new alliance for challenged new resource, while embeddedness in existing complementary resource network is positively associated with the value of new alliance for reinforced new resource. Our study contributes to a better understanding of the alliance portfolio reconfiguration, its structures, and market return consequences in the era of industry change.

Report from the Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance

The Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance (NGMN) was founded by leading international mobile network operators in 2006 with the objective to ensure that functionality and performance of the next generation mobile network infrastructure, service platforms and devices will meet the requirements of operators and, ultimately, will satisfy end user demand and expectations.

The Effect of Inter‐firm Managerial Social Ties on Alliance Formation: How Poorly Embedded Firms Overcome Network Disadvantages

AbstractRecent research suggests pre‐existing network structural dynamics can hamper inter‐organizational alliance formation, particularly for poorly embedded firms. However, this research fails to fully explain how poorly embedded firms can overcome these structural barriers when forming alliances. This study adds to the existing knowledge on network dynamics by proposing how interpersonal relational embeddedness alleviates such constraints and facilitates alliance formation of firms poorly embedded in existing alliance networks. We highlight the informational and sociological benefits of inter‐firm managerial social ties (IFMSTs) formed through interpersonal social experiences beyond those originated from prior business exchange activities between potential partnering firms. Our empirical investigation employs an extensive sample of US public firms and shows strong evidence that IFMSTs help poorly embedded firms overcome the obstacles imposed by their inferior network structure embeddedness when forming alliances. The negative effect of inferior network structural embeddedness is more muted by IFMSTs when both firms in a dyad are at the periphery of the alliance network than when they occupy asymmetric structural positions. This mitigation effect of IFMSTs is more salient when the ties originate from activity‐based social experiences than from shared educational affiliations.

Interorganizational Knowledge Networks, R&D Alliance Networks, and Innovation Capability: A Multilevel Network Perspective

R&D alliances and knowledge networks are vital to the innovation process. Based on the multilevel network approach, our study comprehensively investigates several knowledge attributes of interorganizational knowledge networks and explores how R&D alliance networks are relevant for the relationship between knowledge attributes and organizational innovation capability. Samples in our research include 86 cliques from 2010 to 2015 in five Chinese high-tech industries’ R&D alliance networks. Results from the negative binomial regression model show that different knowledge attributes show a distinct effect on organizational innovation capability, including linear relationship, inverted U-shaped curve relationship, and inverted S-shaped curve relationship. Besides, our results identify that the central position within R&D alliance networks plays a limited role in the relationship between knowledge attributes and organizational innovation capability. Our findings could be used to help organizations sort out their knowledge attributes of knowledge bases, come to understand the impact of the interaction between the interorganizational knowledge network and R&D alliance network on the organizational innovation capability, and then make a targeted strategy to carry out innovation activities.

The network origins of Schumpeterian innovation

This paper investigates the key driving features of the evolving long-term division of innovative labor in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals from 1981 to 2012. Our main goal is to find if technological trajectories and mechanisms discovered by Orsenigo et al. (Res Policy 30(3): 485–508, 2001) as the main drivers of the structural configuration of the network of collaborative alliances have been at work in the long-term evolution of the industry. We extensively analyze the evolving dynamics of the degree distribution and the higher order properties of the R&D network. As in Orsenigo et al. (Res Policy 30(3): 485–508, 2001), we find that polarization through preferential attachment driven by large pharmaceutical companies as Developers and by the entry of new specialized biotechnology companies acting as Originators of new R&D opportunities dominated the early stages of the biotechnology revolution. Later on the evolution of the collaborative network has been shaped by roles’ transitions between Originators and Developers of innovative ideas. Against this background, we introduce parsimonious model of network formation and evolution is introduced, to account for some essential features of the data generating processes underlying the evolution of the network.

Greater Security Cooperation: US Allies in Europe and East Asia

Growing Sino-Russian coordination necessitates greater security cooperation between US Allies in Europe and East Asia. US Allies in both regions face remarkably similar threats requiring similar operational concepts, capabilities, and technologies. Further, these Allies must hedge against the specter of US abandonment. An exploration of the links between the two geographically distant US Alliance networks illustrates the Allies’ perspectives on US extended deterrence and highlights opportunities to devise better policies for cooperation.

The feasibility of a newly developed local network system for cardiac rehabilitation (the CR-GNet) in disease management and physical fitness after acute coronary syndrome

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: Foundation. Main funding source(s): Grant-in-aid from.jpgu Prefecture Background The newly developed Cardiac Rehabilitation.jpgu Network (CR-GNet) has been implemented to create a regional alliance network and to provide periodic follow-up examinations to enhance the disease management in patients with cardiovascular disease. The effectiveness of a network like this support system has not yet been evaluated in Japan. Purpose We aimed to examine the feasibility of the CR-GNet in disease management, assisting patients in attaining physical fitness and its impact on long-term outcomes after acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Methods We enrolled 47 patients with ACS in the CR-GNet between February 2016 and September 2019; of these, 37, 29, and 21 patients underwent follow-up assessments for exercise capacity (peak oxygen uptake) at 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year after discharge, respectively. Major adverse cardiac events (MACE) were defined as the composite of death from cardiac causes, cardiac arrest, myocardial infarction, and rehospitalization due to unstable or progressive angina. MACE were compared with controls who were not registered in the CR-GNet. Results The coronary risk factors, except blood pressure, improved at 3 and 6 months, and 1 year after discharge. These risk factors in each patient significantly reduced from 2.9 at admission to 1.6, 1.4, and 1.9 at 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year after discharge (p < 0.05), respectively. Peak oxygen uptake was significantly higher at 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year after discharge to 17.5 ± 4.9 ml/kg/min, 17.9 ± 5.1 ml/kg/min, and 17.5 ± 5.5 ml/kg/min, respectively, than that at discharge (14.7 ± 3.6 ml/kg/min) (p < 0.05). During follow-up, there was no significant difference; MACE did not occur in any patients in the CR-GNet but occurred in controls. Conclusions The CR-GNet is a feasible option for long-term management of ACS patients. The prognostic impact of the CR-GNet needs further investigation with a larger sample size and longer follow-up. Table1 At admission 3 months 6 months 1 year Average number 2.9 1.6* 1.4** 1.9*** † Average number of coronary risk factors for all patients (n = 21) p = 0.004, vs. at admission; **p = 0.001, vs. at admission; ***p = 0.011, vs. at admission; †p = 0.035, vs. at 6 months

Network Slicing for Beyond 5G Systems: An Overview of the Smart Port Use Case

As the idea of a new wireless communication standard (5G) started to circulate around the world, there was much speculation regarding its performance, making it necessary to carry out further research by keeping in view the challenges presented by it. 5G is considered a multi-system support network due to its ability to provide benefits to vertical industries. Due to the wide range of devices and applications, it is essential to provide support for massively interconnected devices. Network slicing has emerged as the key technology to meet the requirements of the communications network. In this paper, we present a review of the latest achievements of 5G network slicing by comparing the architecture of The Next Generation Mobile Network Alliance’s (NGMN’s) and 5G-PPP, using the enabling technologies software-defined networking (SDN) and network function virtualization (NFV). We then review and discuss machine learning (ML) techniques and their integration with network slicing for beyond 5G networks and elaborate on how ML techniques can be useful for mobility prediction and resource management. Lastly, we propose the use case of network slicing based on ML techniques in a smart seaport environment, which will help to manage the resources more efficiently.

Political Governance Technologies to Overcome Economic Crises

The article discusses the modern ways of using political management technologies to overcome economic crises. The general characteristics and peculiarities of the emergence of crisis situations in the conditions of the cyclical development of the state are given, the main approaches to both the perception of crisis situations and their use for the benefit of society are determined.As a methodology for solving the problem of overcoming the crisis, the article proposes a methodology for the formation and operation of political network alliances, as the quintessence of political and economic mechanisms of governance in modern democratic states.Issues related to the goals and objectives of forming such alliances, tools available to them, methods of work and available powers are considered. The reasons that serve as a catalyst for the creation of such partnerships and their functioning both at the state and municipal levels are highlighted and substantiated.

Data-Model Alliance Network for the Online Multi-Step Thermal Warning of Energy Storage System Based on Surface Temperature Diffusion

With the development of renewable energy, energy storage system has been endowed with more imperative role. As an important way of energy storage, battery energy storage system has been widely used. However, there are frequent cases of battery explosion due to high temperature, which hinders the further development of battery energy storage systems. To address this issue, researches have been carried out either in the model-driven or the data-driven aspects to predict the temperature of the battery. In this paper, a two-node electrothermal model and a multi-scale long and short-term memory network are established formulating a data-model alliance network (DMAN) for the surface temperature diffusion. An improved adaptive boosting algorithm is then employed to enhance the bridge of two models. Integrating the data-model alliance module (DMAM) and multi-step ahead thermal warning network (MATWN), this data-model alliance network provides an advanced online multi-step ahead thermal warning structure to achieve the early warning of temperature crossing. Experimental results verify the progressiveness of the proposed technique.

Characteristics and Classification of Technology Sector Companies in Digital Health for Diabetes

In recent years, technological progress in smart devices and artificial intelligence has also led to advancements in digital health. Digital health tools are especially prevalent in diabetes treatment and improving lifestyle. In digital health’s innovation ecosystem, new alliance networks are formed not only by medical device companies and pharmaceutical companies but also by information and communications technology (ICT) companies and start-ups. Therefore, while focusing on digital health for diabetes, this study explored the characteristics of companies with high network centralities. Our analysis of the changes in degree, betweenness, and eigenvector centralities of the sample companies from 2011 to 2020 found drastic changes in the company rankings of those with high network centrality during this period. Accordingly, the following eight companies were identified and investigated as the top-ranking technology sector companies: IBM Watson Health, Glooko, DarioHealth, Welldoc, OneDrop, Fitbit, Voluntis, and Noom. Lastly, we characterized these cases into three business models: (i) intermediary model, (ii) substitute model, and (iii) direct-to-consumer model, and we analyzed their customer value.

Human Trafficking-Terrorism Nexus: When Violent Non-State Actors Engage in the Modern-Day Slavery

Why do some militant organizations participate in human trafficking? We investigate this question by introducing a new dataset that records insurgent organizations’ involvement in four types of human trafficking: sexual exploitation, forced recruitment, slavery, and kidnapping. Marrying our data to the BAAD2I population of insurgent organizations, we uncover the organizational attributes related to human trafficking. We find that groups with wide alliance networks and territorial control are more likely to commit human trafficking. Organizations that are losing command of the territory and suffering rank-and-file losses are also more likely to turn to human trafficking. Our study sheds theoretical light on insurgent groups’ involvement in crime. It also contributes to the empirical scholarship on sexual violence by violent groups by studying different forms of human trafficking in both conflict and non-conflict environments. Our paper presents an original dataset and empirical analysis of insurgent groups’ human trafficking patterns.

Is China a challenge to U.S. national security?

China and the actions of its leadership have been increasingly seen as a challenge to U.S. national security. This belief is held in common by high-level state officials throughout their official statements as well as by the general public in polls about China’s perceived threat. This article seeks to examine the extent to which China poses as a challenge to U.S. national security, describe how the nation-state might likely do so, and how this threat may change over time. While China remains an active and largely peaceful member of the international community that is constantly evolving in terms of its own foreign policy, it currently has the capabilities to directly challenge U.S. homeland security as well as indirectly degrade U.S. foreign interests as well. Rather than through traditional military means, this threat China poses to U.S. homeland security stems from a rising level of economic influence within the U.S. domestic sphere, as well as a robust cyberwarfare and counter-space program that has the potential to damage U.S. civilian, military, and commercial sectors. However, China has become more and more adept at challenging the U.S. alliance network and overseas bases through both non-conventional and conventional military means, posing a threat to U.S. objectives of free trade as well as allied nations’ political integrity that may lead to direct conflict in the future.

Former Employer’s Prestige, the TMT’s Post-Migration Rewards in the Biopharma Industry

Recruiters and researchers of TMT (top management teams) tend to emphasize the human capital and social capital of the executive in the interfirm migration, but they ignore the role of the former employer’s prestige. We address this issue to argue that the former employer’s organizational prestige attracts the recruiter’s attention to the TMT, and we propose that the TMT from high-prestige organization attracts high rewards than the TMT from a low-prestige organization. We used data from the biotechnology sector on 1,468 TMTs, their 1,482 hiring events, 783 recruiters, 168 source employers—in the interfirm movement of the TMTs from 1997 to 2005. We used three measures for predictors of the organizational prestige of the former employer, and the regression analysis shows some reflections of those predictors of rewards of the hired executive. The result shows that the organizational age, size, and alliance network of the former employer emit value signals to the recruiter. These components of organizational prestige predict increase in the rewards after controlling for the human capital of the TMT. The study contributes to organizational context as a predictor of value, institutional theory, and general implications for practice and policy.

China's Military Rise and the US Strategic Framework for the Indo-Pacific: PROTECTION of ROK's National Interest

Purpose: This article examines China s military rise in the Asia Pacific region and the US-led response, based on its global strategy. This paper suggests that China s military rise is based on defensive realism as opposed to offensive realism. The basic assumption of this paper is that the US strategy has the goal of counterbalancing China s expansionism. The US response to China s expansionism is to check China s military rise as a superpower by strengthening its network of alliances in the Indo-Pacific region and Northeast Asia. In the Indo-Pacific re-gion, the US has attempted to check China using the QUAD-Plus(Quadrilateral Security Dialogue with Japan, India, and Australia + Newzealand, South Korea, and Vietnam) which is a sea-based form of security coopera-tion. Method: In this effort, the article uses a framework of international politics based on the theory of realism, which stresses the salience of survival, the maximization of national interest, and self-help. A realist s per-spective of the world rests on the following assumptions: the pursuit of survival, maximization of interests, and self-help. Defensive realists try to preserve power, rather than increasing it as the main goal of states. China s self-assertion in the South China Sea has been galvanized by the survival mindset against the US containment policy toward China. Results: China s self-assertion in the South China Sea has been galvanized by the survival mindset against the US containment policy toward China. China s survival can be better secured by the occupation of the South Chi-na Sea to protect its sea lines of communication. China s militarization of the South China Sea and its military build-up can be illustrated as a self-help project for the maximization of its security interest in the Indo-Pacific region. Conclusion: In this article, I have reached the following conclusions. China s military rise is based on defensive realism, not offensive realism. The basic assumption of this paper is that the US strategy is aiming at the coun-terbalance of China s expansionism. First, The US response to China s expansionism is to check China s military rise as a superpower with the network of alliance-making in the Indo-Pacific region and Northeast Asia. Second, China tries to build a military facility in the South China Sea to maximize its interest in terms of energy, fish, and security. Third, China s military build-up can be illustrated as self-help to meet the balance with the US formida-ble military might. In the Indo-Pacific region, the US tries to check China through the QUAD-PLUS.

MNE host-country alliance network position and post-entry establishment mode choice

Prior international business research recognizes that networks can affect internationalization decisions, yet our understanding of how networks in the host country do so, especially with respect to establishment mode choices between greenfield and acquisition, remains nascent. Host-country networks become particularly salient after initial entry as the multinational enterprise (MNE) more directly engages with local actors and develops embeddedness in the host country. We draw from network theory to argue that establishment modes of post-entry foreign direct investments into a host country are shaped by the MNE’s position within local alliance networks. We posit that local network centrality increases the likelihood of choosing greenfield because it provides access to broad knowledge flows and higher social status that reduce the MNE’s need to pursue acquisitions of local firms. Conversely, local network brokerage increases opportunities for knowledge recombination, making greenfield a less likely choice vis-a-vis acquisition. Using data on automotive MNEs entering the U.S. over 22 years, we find support for our predictions. Demonstrating that distinct aspects of the MNE’s local network alliance position can operate in different ways to effectuate establishment mode choices, this study advances a more nuanced understanding of how networks shape internationalization into a host country.

AI-Empowered Software-Defined WLANs

The complexity of wireless and mobile networks is growing at an unprecedented pace. This trend is proving current network control and management techniques based on analytical models and simulations to be impractical, especially if combined with the data deluge expected from future applications such as augmented reality. This is particularly true for software-defined wireless local area networks (SO-WLANs). It is our belief that to battle this growing complexity, future SO-WLANs must follow an artificial intelligence (AI) -native approach. In this article, we introduce aiOS, which is an AI-based platform that builds toward the autonomous management of SD-WLANs. Our proposal is aligned with the most recent trends in in-network AI promoted by the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) and with the architecture for disaggregated radio access networks promoted by the Open Radio Access Network Alliance. We validate aiOS in a practical use case, namely frame size optimization in SD-WLANs, and we consider the long-term evolution, challenges, and scenarios for AI-assisted network automation in the wireless and mobile networking domain.