What Are Temporary Networks and When Are They Useful?

When change occurs unpredictably and the time to react is compressed, organizations have to quickly obtain resources they do not readily have. In those situations, organizations are likely to reach out to their long-term networks (LTNs) or to activate dormant networks (DNs). But, what happens when the organization's activities frequently change locations or when the resources needed fluctuate frequently? We argue that under such conditions, the organization can benefit by forming temporary networks (TNs) and renewing, reconfiguring, creating, aligning, and directing the TN's resources. TNs are those that are formed quickly and last a short period of time. We label the dynamic capability to form TNs and manage TNs' resources as temporary network development capability (TNDC) and suggest that it is a special kind of relational capability. We argue that experience with weak-ties networks, swift trust, unpredictable change experience, skill specificity and reputation help in the development of TNDC.