Between Hierarchies and Markets : The Logic and Limits of Network Forms of Organization

The term 'network' has become a ubiquitous metaphor to describe too many aspects of contemporary life. In doing so, Thompson argues, the term has lost much of its analytical precision and has no clear conceptual underpinnings. The book brings some intellectual clarity to the discussion of networks by asking whether it is possible to construct a clearly demarcated idea of a network as a separable form of socio-economic coordination and governance mechanism with its own consistent logic.