Which statement best describes the primary role of a network organization?

• A. Coordinate outsourced activity
• B. Minimize staff directly employed
• C. Outsource all activities
• D. Centralize decision-making

Answer: (A)

In a network organization, the central job is to link and manage a set of external partners so their activities work together to deliver value. The focus is on coordinating outsourced work, not doing everything in-house, so the organization can access specialized capabilities, scale up or down quickly, and keep the core operation lean. Governance—contracts, standards, interfaces, and information flows—ensures that the different providers align on quality, timing, and objectives.

This isn’t mainly about minimizing staff directly employed, nor about outsourcing every activity, nor about centralizing decision-making. Those angles are either outcomes or mismatches with how a network operates; the defining feature is the orchestrating role over outsourced activities across a partner ecosystem.