Orchestrating Global Solutions Networks: A Guide for Organizational Entrepreneurs

Abstract

While global solution networks are among the most promising ways to address global problems, they do not necessarily emerge spontaneously. Often, organizational entrepreneurs must “orchestrate” the creation and development of GSNs, providing information to potential participants, catalyzing and encouraging cooperation, building linkages and providing diverse resources, as well as shaping GSN activities. Yet orchestration remains under-utilized: of 223 GSNs we surveyed, fewer than a quarter were products of orchestration. This paper explains how institutional innovators have initiated, supported, and shaped network solutions to global problems, and offers a practical guide to orchestration for organizational entrepreneurs.