THE NETWORK CONNECTIONS AMONG ENTERPRISES

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present the network connections between enterprises, i.e. all connections (formal and informal) between enterprises and other organizations. The connections are to increase their innovativeness and competitiveness. Remaining in an innovation network has a lot of potential advantages regarding an innovation process: access to a bigger database of ideas, sharing risk, sharing innovation costs, access to new markets and technologies, synergy effect. Such networks are very flexible and, if necessary, make it possible to move the whole production between countries quickly, which reduces the risk connected with a political or economic situation in a given country. This article focuses on a few issues: definitions of networks, types of networks, creating networks and network functioning, an example of a successful and unsuccessful cooperation within a network. In the last part of this article the main participants - transnational corporations - were presented briefly.