"A raft in the stormy sea”: new rules new dresses operating in & for Business Networks

This paper will discuss the development and functioning conditions of business networks. After recalling the main characteristics of post- fordistic environment (section 2) and comparing it to a “stormy sea”, the paper focuses on the idea of networks as a thin “raft” which, though, makes the survival among the waves easier ( section 3). Then, the course of action which allows single organizations to reach the raft ( section 4) and to avoid a subsequent sinking is discussed ( section 5). To understand the navigation difficulties and the related possible solutions, it is necessary to abandon the traditional fordistic analytical categories. They, in fact, give the “illusion of control”, but don’t really help to achieve the final objective of survival. Then it would be analyzed the effort of an institution to change “dress” and role (section 6), trying gain its new role in the new scenery