The essence of a strategic network

This chapter discusses the essence of a strategic network. Understanding a strategic network is not easy. The essence of a company is cooperation. People join companies because they obtain a satisfactory return for their work, and that return is generated because of the joint work of all the people in the company. The essence of a company, looking inward, is cooperation. Without it, there would be no point in joining. In fact, in activities where people do not need the cooperation of other people to perform, there are no companies. From opera singers to independent insurance agents, if the goal can be achieved individually, or with very few people, companies do not arise. When the goal requires the coordinated effort of many people, backed by important capital investments, the traditional companies dominate the field. Those companies then compete with each other. The essence of sustainable profitability for any given economic activity is that it can be performed in a unique way, that is, the company performing it cannot be replaced by another company that can do the same thing at the same cost and may be ready to take a slightly lower margin.