Introduction : a multiunit, multimarket world / Henrich R. Greve, Joel A.C. Baum -- Interorganizational learning and the dynamics of chain relationships / Paul Ingram, Joel A.C. Baum -- Dynamics of knowledge transfer among multimarket competitors / Christopher M. Cassidy, David Loree -- Designing multimarket-contact hypothesis tests : patent citations and multimarket contact in the product and innovation markets of the chemicals industry / John T. Scott -- Collusion in horizontally connected markets : multimarket producers as conduits for learning / Owen R. Phillips, Charles F. Mason -- Getting to multimarket competition : how multimarket contact affects firms' market entry decisions / John Stephan, Warren Boeker -- Strategic management in the new economy: Modern information technologies and multichannel contact strategies / Marc van Wegberg, Arjen van Witteloostuijn -- Markets and multiunit firms from an American historical perspective / Sukkoo Kim -- Ethnic links, location choice and performance : a test of the rural motel industry / Arturs Kalnins, Wilbur Chung -- Racing for market share : hypercompetition and the performance of multiunit multimarket firms / Stan Xiao Li, You-Ta Chuang -- Multimarket contact : meaning and measurement at multiple levels of analysis / Javier Gimeno, Eui Jeong -- Beyond multimarket contact to mutual forbearance : pursuit of multimarket strategy / Helaine J. Korn, Terence T. Rock -- Tradeoffs in the organization of production : multiunit firms, geographic dispersion and organizational learning / Pino G. Audia, Olav Sorenson, Jerald Hage.

A conspicuous feature of the modern economy is the multitude of multiunit systems that operate in several markets - an organizational form that arguably rivals the M-form as the 20th century's most successful. Research traditions studying multiunit systems include the multimarket perspective, which has used commitment and mutual forbearance theory, and the multiunit perspective, which has used learning and knowledge transfer theory. These perspectives are interdisciplinary, but to date there has been little direct interaction among them. This text aims to bring these areas together, discussing such things as: examining how variation in firm capabilities affects the co-ordination of branches and thus their forbearance or transfer of routines; bridging theories of market conduct and internal behaviour to explore how knowledge about markets and competitor behaviour is transferred among organizational units; making a theory of contingent multiunit or single-unit competitive advantage that can account for the coexistence of these organizational forms in many markets; and examining the effects of firm contacts in alliances or technological fields on their competitive behaviours.

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