losing the fear of sharing valued c

losing the fear of sharing valued corporate information and knowledge, that in other circumstances might threaten their market position if used by competitors. As members of the same network they will contribute to its strength, and in sharing information benefits may accrue to all network members.
With the increasingly complex global business scenario and reduction of trade barriers, more and more companies are looking outside their domestic boundaries for the relationships that will define their future business, add value to their activities and give access to global markets. The role of the freight forwarding agent becomes increasingly important for these companies, even more so in countries where these agents are the only organisations permitted to prepare the cargo in the airports and ports and deal with customs, for example, in Latin American countries (Krause, 2001). Owing to the interconnected nature of the global freight forwarding industry it may become increasingly difficult for smaller forwarders to compete without a worldwide network of associates (Doernte, 1999; Knight, 2000). Therefore, strong network connections may offer support in terms of an accurate information system and may assist in the smooth running of the whole operation, until the cargo arrives at its final destination.
This paper examines the empirical case of the development of an international network of regionally independent freight forwarders. It views the development of the freight forwarding network from the perspective of small freight forwarding firms, originating from many different countries throughout the world. The Hi-Tech Forwarder Network (HTFN) is an industry network where small freight forwarders have developed relationships with the aim of pooling their resources and activities to offer a freight forwarding service on behalf of other firms in the network. Thus, by connecting with freight forwarders in other countries and combining their resources and activities with those firms, the network of small firms aims to offer a more expansive service with a global reach greater than each individual small firm would be capable of offering alone.
The research will explore how a network comprising competing freight forwarders operates and will focus on the relevance of relationship and network theory (Ford et al., 1998) to the behaviour of small- and medium-sized freight forwarders in business networks. The findings of the paper will focus on an evaluation of the business network concept, as a form of international collaboration for small- and medium-sized forwarders.