New information and computer technologies combined
with advances in transportation technology to change the fundamental nature of the firm itself. Theories
about networks emerged to help us portray the ties
connecting these new firms, often disaggregated across
the value chain, and the patterned relationships linking
those who work in them (Baker 1994, Burt 1983, Powell
1990). Some struggled to understand why firms exist
at all, buffeted as they are by market forces. Transaction
cost theory helped shed light on that fundamental
question (Williamson 1975, 2002); it also helped us to
understand the explosive growth in strategic alliances
(Hennart 1988).