Abstract
The paper explores the social networks of South African micro-entrepreneurs in order to understand the socially-embedded resources that micro-entrepreneurs apply towards their innovation process. The paper posits that the social capital embedded within the network of a micro-entrepreneur is activated by the demands of the innovation process to generate other forms of resources by which the innovation process is facilitated. Analysing empirical data collected via in-depth interviews of urban micro-entrepreneurs in the Johannesburg metropolitan area, the analysis conceptually organizes these various forms of socially embedded resources into an original framework referred to as Network Diversity Value (NDV). Two central dimensions frame NDV – the orientation of the innovation process and the form of the emerging resource. The interaction of these dimensions reveal a variety of network-based resources perceived as valuable, and suggest a greater degree of complexity and nuance in the South African micro-entrepreneur’s innovative process than that which common discourse conveys.
Highlights
Innovation is a socially-embedded process, where relationships and social activity and exchange are noted to be driving factors of innovative thinking and activity (Oerlemans, Meeus, and Boekena, 1998; Landry, Amar, and Lamari, 2002; Akcomac and ter Weel, 2008)
This paper argues that it is paramount to understand how these set of South African entrepreneurs draw the needed support and resources by which to carry out this innovative process from social capital when other capital resources, especially that of financial capital, are usually initially scarce
The conceptual model of network diversity value reveals that resources derived from an entrepreneur’s networks are the product of the interaction between the structure of the network and the innovation process
Summary
Innovation is a socially-embedded process, where relationships and social activity and exchange are noted to be driving factors of innovative thinking and activity (Oerlemans, Meeus, and Boekena, 1998; Landry, Amar, and Lamari, 2002; Akcomac and ter Weel, 2008). This paper will explore the experience of idea formation, production, and commercialization of small firms operating in resource constrained areas – such as many South African townships - or of emerging, start-up firms by previously disadvantaged persons, such as the black South Africans. These formally-registered micro-enterprises are an unique business community authentic to South Africa in that they combine local nuance (i.e. indigenous material, contextual challenges, prevailing ideas, and cultural mores) with cutting-edge trends in order to provide products and services that represent a contemporary South Africa to the rest of the nation and world. This paper argues that it is paramount to understand how these set of South African entrepreneurs draw the needed support and resources by which to carry out this innovative process from social capital when other capital resources, especially that of financial capital, are usually initially scarce
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