Sense-making in business markets – the interplay between cognition, action and outcomes

Abstract

Business markets are characterized by interdependences between business actors. How these actors make sense of such interdependencies is a matter of both theoretical and practical importance. Research on cognitive foun dations for competition in business markets, based on organization and strategic management, has evolved con siderably since the 1980s. Also, researchers on business markets that are based on marketing and adopt a network perspective, have become increasingly interested in cognition and sense-making over the last two de cades. The concepts network pictures and network understanding have been in focus for this research, which has resulted in a demand for improved clarity of the interplay between cognition, action and outcome, as well as for a stronger integration between parallel research developments from related disciplines and research ap proaches. A better understanding of how individual and collective views are developed is also required. This Spe cial Issue, originated in the network perspective of business markets, is aimed to address these issues.