I began by noting that (interactive) beliefs have been given scant attention in the strategy discipline. Perhaps this reflects a belief that beliefs cannot be moulded or manipulated (or, if this can be done, that this is the task of marketing people rather than strategists) or that beliefs are just inherently too flimsy, unpredictable, vague, etc. to be something you can successfully influence in your favour. The argument is this article has been that as we enter an economy that is increasingly, information-rich and networked, latent coordination problems will become increasingly prevalent. Often, these coordination problem arise because of network externalities and critical mass effects — phenomena that have often been discussed in connection with IT markets. However, these coordination problems are becoming ubiquitous, and not just limited to IT markets, as connectivity becomes equally ubiquitous (and also apply to consumer goods, see Cosgel, 1994; Langlois and Cosgel, 1998).
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