THE MAIN FEATURES OF BUSINESS NETWORK RELATIONS (NETWORK APPROACH) (Glówne cechy relacji sieciowych przedsiebiorstw (network approach))

Network relations are company's contacts with environment and its business partners, which base among other things on cooperation and make an extended network of relations (business network). Till now the research area concerning network approach is characterized by the lack of cohesive conceptual apparatus. No features distinctively differentiating network relations from the other transaction relations connecting companies are indicated. That is why the aim of the article is systematization of former achievements in this area and defining main features of network relations deciding about their essence (in accordance with network approach). The article includes review of main features of the network relations suggested in the literature of the subject. Next three basic features, which in the author's view prove that a given relation is a network relation, are defined. And these are: continuous interaction, interdependence and infinity (borderless). At the conclusion of the article, based on the identified features of network relations, a definition of business network is proposed.