This book is a major outcome from a programme of business research that has stretched over the past thirty years. The aim of the book is to set out as simply as possible the ideas that have developed from this research and what they mean for the study and practice of business. The book seeks to explain what happens in the complex networks of companies in which business takes place. The book provides an overview of the process of business interaction and an explanation of how companies work with each other interactively in business networks. The book draws conclusions about the way that business evolves and develops and about how companies can operate effectively in an interactive world. The book is illustrated throughout by case examples drawn from our research.

About the Author

All are world class academics in the area of business to business marketing and networks as well as key members of the IMP Group. (Industrial Marketing and Purchasing Group).

Håkan Håkansson is Professor of Industrial Marketing at the Department of Innovation and Economic Organization at BI Norwegian School of Management in Oslo., Norway.

David Ford is currently an Affiliate Professor at Euromed, Marseille, France

Lars-Erik Gadde is Professor of Industrial Marketing at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden..

Ivan Snehota is Professor of Marketing at the USI, University of Lugano, Switzerland.

Alexandra Waluszewski is Professor of Business studies and Director of the Science & Technology Studies Center (STS) at Uppsala University, as well as a senior lecturer in the Department of Business Studies, Sweden.