Multinetwork Management: Collaboration and the Hollow State in Local Economic Policy

Abstract

Systematic study and understanding of multiorganizational settings under hollow state conditions has lagged behind the managerial practice of operating in networks, which has become an important element of governance. This article bridges this knowledge gap by exploring the intergovernmental networking component of economic development in 237 cities. The analysis distinguishes three different strategic types of networks, identifies determinants of the variation in the structure and composition of networks across strategic purposes, and demonstrates that the capacities required for operating in networks are different from that of single organizations. The implications for public management practice and theory lie not simply in the extent to which networks have become a primary organizational setting for designing and executing policy, but in the number and type of networks that exist within the policy making realm of a single city.