Networking Reference library
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History
...emerge until the early eighteenth century.) Uncertainty arose from the external business environment, where shipwreck, piracy, war, and volatile markets posed threats, and from internal sources, related to control and competence. As information systems, networks provided the interpersonal information needed to reduce internal uncertainty and the wider-ranging intelligence needed to assess external risks more accurately. The network also offered a means for managing the residual risk by spreading it among a band of trusted confederates. Merchants leveraged their...
