Managerial Technology and Netted Networks. `Competitiveness' in Action: The Work of Translating Performance in a High-Tech Firm

Abstract

Organizational practices weave in and out of different networks. In this paper, we argue and illustrate that the existence and importance of networks in organizations vary according to particular management concerns. Some networks are typically dormant and are called forth only in situations of `crisis'; they may be invisible to organizational participants in conditions of normality. Via organizational concerns, such as hierarchy and control, productivity and profitability, in some episodes some networks (which we call managerial technologies) are made important to condition other networks that operate in continuous time (we call them business technologies). The paper's empirical domain is a small high-tech producer in Denmark. The paper discusses the linkages between actor networks, attempts to discuss how each makes claims to `competitiveness' and assesses how they mobilize each other in situations where one network is impacting on other networks to condition and change them. This reflects the intricate effects of different networks all having a spokesperson and a materiality that claim privileged access to `competitiveness' and its translation into organizational decision-making.