In the end, the analytical distinction between complementarity
and embeddedness is useful primarily in
that it reminds us to look for both elements. There may
be cases in which synergy is created solely on the basis
of complementarity. Or, though this seems even less
likely, cases where synergy is built around network
connections which do not involve complementarity.
Nonetheless, the best way to understand synergy is as a
set of public/private relations built around the integration
of complementarity and embeddedness.
This preliminary description of the forms of synergy
is useful in thinking about how synergy works in
practice, but it does not illuminate the social and political
conditions that make synergy possible in the first
place. To explore the origins of synergistic relations it
is necessary to look more broadly at the circumstances
under which synergy has emerged, searching for commonalities
across different contexts.