Embeddedness and the evolution of global networks : an Australian case study

By means of a case study, this article explores the evolution of international business relationships. Spanning a 40-year period, relationships between an American licensor, an Australian manufacturing firm, and a Thai firm are explored. These relationships (including how they develop, function, and change over time) are studied in the context of both applications of the network paradigm to the internationalisation of the firms involved and the wider industrial settings (i.e., at the national, regional, and global levels) in which such business networks are embedded. These settings include different types of networks, such as the social, market, regional, technological, institutional, and infrastructural networks, as well as underlying temporal, spatial, and representational dimensions. The analysis enhances management's understanding of the evolution of the internationalisation process by highlighting its dynamic, complex, and multi-dimensional nature, and also by providing a more holistic and in-depth understanding of the both the context of international business decision-making and the issues involved.