Technologie, organisation et performances: le cas de la firme-réseau / Technology, Organization and Performances: the Network-Firm's Ground

• Published in: Revue d'économie politique 1992-07, Vol.102 (4), p.563-592
• Main Author: Guilhon, Bernard
• Format: Article
• Language: fre
• ISSN: 0373-2630; 2105-2883

Cet article se propose d'analyser, dans le cadre de firmes déployées en réseau, l'importance des apprentissages collectifs et des phénomènes organisationnels. Pour cela, une distinction est établie entre les ressources et les capacités : ce qui a pour effet de préciser les modalités d'adaptation à l'environnement ainsi que les répercussions sur la problématique des performances. This paper analyses the emergence of a new organizational mode : the network-firm. This entity, which expends beyond the limits of the principal firm in quasi-permanent association with a set of SMB, adapts itself differently to the environment according to the activities : — by technology and knowledge-capital in the high-growth industries; — by organization in the mature industries. To make this analysis, a distinction is founded between the resources, which are the inputs of traditional factors, and the capabilities, which are considered as specific « intermediary goods », to increase the productivity resources. This distinction is adapted to a representation of the firm as a chain of articulated competencies, formed by a knowledge-base and an experience-base. The adaptation by technology is synonymous with a dynamism of the knowledge-base, whereas the adaptation by the organization rests upon the dynamisation of the experience-base which produces incremental innovations. The performances of the network-firm are perceived at three levels : their competitiveness, their productivity and their profitability. The analysis of these indicators directly expresses their reliance upon the organizational phenomenon. The distinction between resources and capabilities makes it possible to show that productivity moves from resources management towards the interfaces management, which implies having recourse to the concept of organizational morphology and organizational architecture.