Measuring network competence: some international evidence

Abstract

Argues that the ability of a firm to develop and manage relations with key suppliers, customers and other organizations and to deal effectively with the interactions among these relations is a core competence of a firm – one that has a direct bearing on a firm’s competitive strength and performance. This is referred to as a firm’s network competence . In the first part of the paper work in Germany that has led to the development and calibration of a scale to measure a firm’s network competencies is described. In the second part the results of preliminary studies designed to develop and test the validity of the scale in an English‐speaking context are reported. The results show that the measurement of network competence is valid and that the same relations between network competence and performance measures found in the German research hold. It is further shown that the measure of network competence is empirically and conceptually distinct to that of the market orientation scale.