Determinants of Network Organisations Creation. Selected Results of Empirical Research

The strategies of modern companies deal with their independent development but the concepts which make use of connections and partnership cooperation with other entities are gaining more significance. Cooperation may become, besides competition, the key to a market success. There are new forms of this cooperation, new organisational structures, a new perception of a business company focusing on a high dynamics of changes in the ways it operates and interacts with the environment. Network organisation may be regarded as one of these forms of cooperation. The article presents theoretical considerations referring to different approaches to the comprehension of the idea of network organisation and its features. It indicates, against this background, the major sources of competitive advantage created by network organisations as well as the determinants of their creation. The empirical section of the article presents selected results of empirical research conducted in 2013 on a sample of 363 companies belonging to network organisations. They dealt with, for example, the determinants of network organisation creation in the Polish business practice.