Business Network Performance Research Articles

A new approach of innovation and network on export in trade fair context: evidence from Portuguese SMEs

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between product innovation and network and their export performance, particularly in trade fair context. Moreover, this paper conducts a comparative study among services/industrial small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and considers the home-country context. Innovation and internationalization are stagnant themes in the recent literature on trade fairs, so they require to be renewed.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical study includes a survey with 341 SMEs’ respondents separated into both industrial/producer and service/other. A conceptual model was developed and examined from three different perspectives: Model A encompasses all surveyed SMEs, Model B includes only industrial/producer SMEs and Model C comprises service/other SMEs. Data analysis happened in two steps. The first step included the structural equation model (SEM) and the assessment of hypotheses (from three different perspectives). Thus, it was possible to make a comparative analysis between the models. In the second step, the ordered logit model (OLM) is used to study relationships between control variables and the criteria variable export performance.FindingsThe SEM’s results confirm a conceptual model about a dynamic trajectory that SMEs, mainly industrial/producer, can take advantage of: innovate to networking and networking to export. The results allowed to verify when comparing services/industrial SMEs that the tangibility which characterizes the innovation of industrial SMEs' products contributed significantly to the performance of business networks and exports. The study also reveals, through the OLM, two catalysts for the success of the SME’s export performance: export experience and continued participation in trade fairs. The OLM results also reveal that the size of the companies is not relevant, so trade fairs are marketing tools accessible to any company, regardless of their size. Finally, the study considered home-country context of the surveyed SMEs, which allowed additional interpretations to be drawn.Research limitations/implicationsThe study does not reflect the individual's personality in his network capacity and the export performance was measured based on the level of satisfaction and not on real sales results. However, the study provides relevant practical implications and can support future studies.Practical implicationsThe study offers important implications for SME. The results reveal that presenting product innovations at trade fairs is a useful tool for SMEs to create networks, which facilitates their export performance, especially for industrial SMEs residing in small economies such as Portugal. This study is also relevant for business associations of industrial SMEs and/or public or semi-public SME promotion agencies.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the literature on trade fairs, suggesting a new innovation, networking, export (INE) framework to reflect on the participation in international trade fairs. So, this research especially combines product INE performance in a particular context – international trade fairs for SME. It also considers the home-country context of the SMEs, which adds depth to the study. Finally, the comparative study also provides insightful implications for industrial SMEs on how to improve the export performance from trade fairs by leveraging innovation and networking.

Investigating agent-based inter-organizational systems and business network performance

PurposeFrom the theoretical perspectives of both multi-agent systems and smart business networks, empirical studies analyzing agent-based inter-organizational systems (ABIOS) in a real-life business setting are rare. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of ABIOS on the performance of business networks.Design/methodology/approachThis study presents a theoretical conceptual model portraying the influence of ABIOS on clients’ coordination structure and information architecture; and the impact of those structural alterations on business network performance in terms of the coordination, agility, and informational performances. To validate the model, a cross-case analysis was conducted in three logistics cases, namely, warehousing, freight forwarding, and intermodal transportation.FindingsThe application of ABIOS requires adjustments to the information architecture or the coordination structure, or both. Subsequently, those structural adjustments will stimulate improvements in the coordination, agility, and informational performances.Research limitations/implicationsThe assessment of the clients’ performance improvement is done at the company level not at an aggregate network level. Moreover, the study only covers cases from the logistics sector.Practical implicationsThis study explains the structural consequences of ABIOS applications. The adoption of an inter-organizational system is a strategic decision that requires support from multi-stakeholders. While the applications of ABIOS can offer performance improvement opportunities, adjustments must be made to the existing coordination structure or the information architecture, or both.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the smart business network literature and the ABIOS literature by presenting a validated conceptual model explaining the interplay among ABIOS, the coordination structure, informational structure, and business network performance, namely, the coordination, agility, and informational performances.

Innovation network trajectories: the role of time and history

Purpose – This article aims to describe patterns of change in innovation networks and to clarify the roles of time and history in shaping network trajectories. The authors test seven predictor variables and their interactions to examine their influences on network performance over time. Design/methodology/approach – A fuzzy simulation of innovation networks and investigations of different network types, using two classes of growth modeling techniques, help refine understanding of innovation as an interactive, developmental process. Findings – Innovation network trajectories are influenced by self-reinforcing, contradictory and damaging forces. History affects network trajectory development, particularly with regard to financial resource access. The temporal processes reveal three contrasting classes of developmental trajectories for innovation networks. Research limitations/implications – The study methodology can account for theoretically derived factors leading to innovation, in and across types of networks and for changes over time; it moves beyond a cross-sectional approach. Although the model structure is generic, the parameters are based on a radical innovation, so the findings may not transfer directly. Practical implications – Managers in innovation business networks can use the identified variables to improve network performance, by facilitating processes that inject financial capital and integrating heterogeneous skills that focus on a wider variety of skills that generate both exploratory and exploitative knowledge development. Originality/value – This article contributes to discourses on network trajectories through an analysis of processes that influence the growth and decline of innovation business network performance. An original methodology generates and analyzes dynamic longitudinal network data.

The Information-Based View on Business Network Performance: Revealing the Performance of Interorganizational Networks

markdownabstract__Abstract__ In the last thirty years, global developments including advancements in ICT and process and product modularization have made the network form of organization more widespread than ever before. In many industries large vertically integrated organizations have been supplanted by flexible networks of independent organizations. In other industries and sectors, individual organizations continue to operate through the traditional organizational form of a business network. The proliferation of business networks presses the need to move theoretical development on processes and outcomes forward, beyond actor and dyadic level to the whole network level of analysis. Network performance studies however, have been scattered both across time and across management disciplines, and offer diverse concepts, measures and drivers, which slows down the theoretical build up. A related problem is that the conceptual issue of what constitutes performance on network level, has been left unaddressed. The main purpose of this dissertation is therefore to conceptualize and explain the performance of interorganizational networks. This is done by executing three studies: conceptualization research laboratory experiments and a field case study. Step by step an integrated framework is built in this dissertation that represents the information-based view on network performance and its theoretical mechanisms. This dissertation pushes the boundaries of knowledge on network performance, increases the understanding and ability of practitioners to manage their networks and sets the agenda for future network performance research.

Partner selection, partner behavior, and business network performance

PurposeBusiness networks have to coordinate each of their partners' goals and expectations, as a lack of partner compatibility and goal incongruence could lead to conflict and opportunistic behavior. These potential problems highlight the relevance of partner selection as a means of minimizing opportunistic behavior by building trust in and commitment to a network that influences network performance. The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into partner selection as a management control mechanism, which controls the behavior and network performance of business network partners.Design/methodology/approachThe paper provides an analysis of the effects of a well‐executed partner selection on business networks' performance. The paper further analyzes the effects of the mediating role of trust within, commitment to, and the risk of opportunistic behavior in business networks. Consequently, the paper highlights the pivotal role of partner selection in business networks as a management control mechanism.FindingsThe results provide an exploratory empirical insights into the cause‐and‐effect relationship between partner selection, partners' behavior, and network performance. Partner selection has effects on trust, opportunism, and commitment. The selection of a partner is a very important managerial control task within business networks, as appropriate selection is a threshold condition for a successful business network.Research limitations/implicationsSince the study is based on empirical data collected by individuals, it could be open to general criticism regarding the methodology of broad empirical analysis. Time‐lagging effects also remain unrevealed as the data represent only a point in time. Some effects cannot be verified indisputably, while the low variance in some of the construct results is only indicative of suggestions.Originality/valueThis paper provides insights into partner selection as a management control mechanism, which controls the behavior and network performance of business network partners.

Building social capital in networks

This paper explores the re-emerging concept of social capital in business networks. Spanning a multitude of disciplines and different contexts, the construct remains ill defined and its measurement imprecise, yet researchers in both the developed and transitional economies are increasingly finding it necessary to draw upon social capital as a means of explaining behavior within embedded social networks. We encourage and indeed implore researchers to continue to explore the construct and its impact on the performance of business networks.

RESOURCE PLANNING ALGORITHM FOR PERSONALIZING NETWORKS

In the era of global markets, competition is often based on the performance of business networks rather than those of individual firms. This is especially true in the context of business networks offering personalization. Networks are faced with complex design issues in order to configure resource requirements throughout their network. The paper presents a simulation-based algorithm to determine the good trade-off between resource levels and inventory levels as well as how to best distribute delivery times in the network while respecting delivery delays and multiple market offers.

The Value of Information Integration in Meeting Delivery Dates

In this article, we consider the value of shared information within a business network. To make the problem concrete, we focus on a specific operational problem: How the final supplier to the customer determines promised delivery dates. In a traditional supply chain, the final supplier has little or no information on the delivery performance of intermediate suppliers and thus, has limited information with which to set delivery dates. On the other hand, in an information-integrated business network, the final supplier's enterprise resource planning (ERP) system can interact with all the intermediate suppliers' ERP systems to determine exactly how far ahead or behind schedule the network is in meeting the needs of a specific customer. This information should improve the final supplier's ability to set realistic delivery dates. We attempt to quantify the value of this information and determine precisely why it is valuable so that management can best exploit information integration. We use a modeling approach in this research, beginning with simple analytic models and progressing to more realistic simulation models. Our analytic model establishes an important principle: Information integration not only significantly improves the average on-time delivery performance of a business network, but also dramatically improves its worst-case performance. Because customer dissatisfaction is generally associated with worst-case performance, information integration may be highly beneficial even if its effect on average on-time delivery is small. Simulation models allow us to compare the performance of more realistic business networks. These models suggest, for example, that the value of information integration is dependent on both the structure of the network itself (whether serial or arborescent) and on the typical customer order date in the production cycle. These insights allow us to begin to identify the types of business networks in which information integration will have the highest value.