Network Logic - Index of

13. Organising for success
how network technologies are
changing organisations
Diane Coyle
Swimming in the vast tides of information that are the result of
new(ish) network technologies it is easy to overlook a simple
consequence of cheap communications and information processing.
There is more of both, of course – none of us could miss that. But all
that information is also flowing into different places. It isn’t a
question of having the same connections as before, only faster:
entirely new connections are developing.
That is easy enough to understand in the abstract. What does it
mean in a specific context, such as a particular company or public
sector agency? Organisations take the shape they have for many
reasons, including historical accidents, political outcomes and
cultural context. However, one key explanation for organisational
structure is the ease or difficulty of exchanging information. The
reason companies exist is because there are compelling reasons for
some transactions not to take place in a market between individuals.
An important one is the existence of economies of scale. But others
concern the lack of information: the difficulty of monitoring quality
and effort or the impossibility of writing down all possible
contingencies in a watertight contract. In addition, companies take
certain internal forms because of problems like monitoring workers’
productivity or keeping track of the large amount of information
relevant to day-to-day decisions.
If it is costly and difficult to exchange information, companies are
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