cost reductions ICOOP+ = the imperative for deep cooperation (functional interdependence) IAUnimit. = the imperative for purchasing unimitable competitive advantages (for the economic actor) VCust = the necessity of customer value in purchasing future profits and competitive advantages VInfo = the necessity of informational value in purchasing future profits and competitive advantages cc = the specific competitive conditions in which the economic actor operates Synergistic networks and systems The synergistic network represents an integrated part of the economic system which, through the coordination and control functions (of the undertaken economic actions), agrees synergies. The networks which promote synergistic actions can be divided in horizontal synergistic networks and vertical synergistic networks. Synergy effects The synergy effects are difficult (even impossible) to imitate by competitors and difficult to reproduce by their authors because these effects depend on the combination of factors with time-varying characteristics. The synergy effects are often called "synergistic benefits", representing the direct and implied result of the developed/adopted synergistic actions. Computers Synergy can also be defined as the combination of human strengths and computer strengths, such as advanced chess. Computers can process data much more quickly than humans, but lack the ability to respond meaningfully to arbitrary stimuli. Synergy in literature Etymologically, the "synergy" term was first used around 1600, deriving from the Greek word "synergos", which means "to work together" or "to cooperate". If during this period the synergy concept was mainly used in the theological field (describing "the cooperation of human effort with divine will"), in the 19th and 20th centuries, "synergy" was promoted in physics and biochemistry, being implemented in the study of the open economic systems only in the 1960 and 1970s. In 1938, J. R. R. Tolkien wrote an essay titled On Fairy Stores, delivered at an Andrew Lang Lecture, and reprinted in his book, The Tolkien Reader, published in 1966. In it, he made two references to synergy, although he did not use that term. He wrote: Faerie cannot be caught in a net of words; for it is one of its qualities to be indescribable, though not imperceptible. It has many ingredients, but analysis will not necessarily discover the secret of the whole. And more succinctly, in a footnote, about the "part of producing the web of an intricate story", he wrote: It is indeed easier to unravel a single thread — an incident, a name, a motive — than to trace