The Role of Networks in Helping Firms and Countries Invent New Competitive Strategies Adapted to the World Knowledge Economy

For the last twenty years, the world economy has evolved at a great speed. Every good, capital asset, and knowledge is mobile and induces more competition. Innovation in commodities is a complex process that requires more cooperation. To innovate in the knowledge economy, firms nowadays must establish “win-win situations” for individuals in creating networks. These networks are useful for firms in order to come up with innovative strategies. The building of networks enables the interactions between agents, the environment, and institutions. The interdependence of agents and institutions is not new to evolutionary theory (Commons 1931; Veblen 1898). However, I argue that institutions must be more flexible than ever before in order to help agents adapt to the modern knowledge economy. On the basis of the role of meso-networks, I propose new long-run specialization and short-run competitiveness that will promote greater efficiency and equality around the world in relation to firms and countries exporting industrial goods into world markets. Within the innovative networks, I analyze the role of two different actors: (i) the “economic leader” who has a long-run strategy and (ii) the “go-between leader” who knows how to diffuse “useful information” to actors to help them innovate in new products, services, or processes.