Formation Of Business Networks Research Articles

Analysis of the Influence of Entrepreneurial Orientation on Internasional Business Networking and Competitive Advantage, and Its Impact on the Marketing Performance of SMEs (A Study on SMEs in Kampung Embong Arab, Malang City)

This study aims to analyze the influence of entrepreneurial orientation on business networking and Competitive Advantage and its impact on the export-import performance of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the Arab Embong Village, Malang City. A survey method was employed to collect data from MSMEs operating in the village. Hypothesis testing was conducted using multiple regression analysis. The results show that entrepreneurial orientation has a significant influence on the formation of business networks. Furthermore, it was found that business networking has a positive and significant impact on the export-import performance of MSMEs. The implications of these findings underscore the importance of developing entrepreneurial orientation and fostering business networking for MSMEs to enhance their export-import performance. Therefore, it is recommended that the government and relevant institutions provide support and guidance to MSMEs in developing entrepreneurial skills and expanding their business networks.

Organisational capabilities and small and medium sized firms’ attainment of innovation outcomes: the moderating roles of exports and formal business networks

PurposeThe authors examine the influence of planning and execution capability (PEC) and operational improvement capability (OIC) on small-and-medium-sized firms’ (SMEs) attainment of different innovation outcomes under the conditions of exports and formal business networks, based on the capability-based perspective and organisational learning literature.Design/methodology/approachThe authors analyse time-series data about UK SMEs, extracted from the 2015 and 2016 UK Longitudinal Small Business Surveys (LSBS).FindingsThe authors failed to find any direct effects of PEC and OIC on product innovation outcomes. However, the authors discovered that OIC supports the generation of process innovation outputs more strongly than PEC. Additionally, exports and formal business networks provide SMEs with different learning opportunities. The authors find limited support that exports amplify the beneficial effect of PEC on product innovation outcomes more than formal business networks. On the other hand, formal business networks strengthen the effect of PEC on process innovation outcomes more than exports. As a result, exports reduce the beneficial effect of OIC on product innovation outcomes more than formal business networks. However, formal business networks weaken the beneficial effect of OIC more than exports.Originality/valueThe authors distinguish between two types of organisational capabilities – PEC and OIC – and examine their impact on SMEs in achieving innovation outcomes. The authors also identify SMEs’ involvement in exports and formal business networks as the important boundary conditions for such effects. xD; xA; xD; xA;

Directions of formation of business networks in the regional system

Directions of formation of business networks in the regional system

Regional small businesses’ personal and inter-firm networks

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the role of personal and inter-firm networks and the elements that contribute to the formation and management of these networks for regional small businesses.Design/methodology/approachSemi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 small business owners located in regional areas.FindingsThe findings highlight key characteristics of regional small business owners’ networks. Findings indicated that participants relied strongly on their personal networks for business purposes. This study shows that while personal networks adapted and changed into informal inter-firm networks, weak-tie relations within inter-firm networks were unlikely to develop into close personal networks. Novel findings also include a preference for “regional interactions” and included regular collaboration with local business competitors. Although the participants used social media to manage their business through personal networks, results confirmed there was a lack of awareness of the benefits of inter-firm networks with businesses outside the local region.Originality/valueWhile it is acknowledged small business owners use personal and inter-firm connections to maintain and grow their business, there is a lack of research examining both of these networks in the same study. This research addresses this gap and presents five propositions as a useful direction for future research. This paper adds to the evolution of existing knowledge by expanding understanding of the formation of business networks and conditions of business trust relations within a regional context.

The effect of participation in Denmark’s Innovation Network program

ABSTRACTThis paper investigates Denmark’s Innovation Network program which aims to foster cooperation and knowledge sharing on research and innovation between knowledge institutions and companies in an effort to promote knowledge-based growth and productivity. Consistent with recent research on the effects of business network formation, this paper finds that participation in the Innovation Network increases labor productivity and total factor productivity by almost 7 and 13 percent respectively after four years. In addition, participants in the Innovation Network program are about 5 percentage points more likely to participate in other Danish innovation programs in the subsequent four years, explaining one mechanism by which the Innovation Network facilitates productivity growth. Generally, those firms with lower than (industry) median levels of full time equivalent employees realize the largest benefits from program participation. Despite small sample sizes, evidence that particular networks experience even larger gains is presented.

The female entrepreneur’s financial networks: accessing finance for the emergence of technology-based firms in Jordan

In this paper, we focus on how female entrepreneurs in Jordan finance the establishment and early growth of their technology-based ventures. Previous research exploring the experiences of female entrepreneurs, undertaken primarily in Western, developed countries, had emphasised their early reliance on informal capital, sourced via personal networks, acquaintances, friends and family. Little was known, however, about the experiences of women in developing economies, such as the Middle East, where they represent a growing proportion of the educated and entrepreneurial populations, albeit from a small base. The study discussed here investigated the entrepreneurial journey of the female founders of 16 technology-based firms in Jordan, adopting a network perspective to explore how they accessed sources of finance and investigate the dynamic nature and characteristics of their financial ties, from start-up through to early growth. Our findings show how, compared with their western counterparts, these Jordanian women adopt a very different approach to venture funding from the start, relying more heavily on formal sources and networks. In securing funds from formal business networks ties, they leverage benefits from connections established via formal events and networking platforms to facilitate development of their financial network ties at a very early stage.

Managing business networks for value creation in facilities and their external environments

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to increase understanding of the logic of business network formation among the co-located and external actors of a facility.Design/methodology/approachThe research adopts a theory-building approach through developing propositions inductively from the empirical case study on four purposefully sampled modern service station facilities. The focus is on analyzing how a facility and its inherent co-located actors represent an entity that forms a business network with external actors in the facility’s environment.FindingsThe findings propose that when co-located with a large number of actors, the facility and its actors represent an entity that is connected to a wide business network of multiple external actors. On the other hand, when co-located with a small number of actors, the facility becomes a part of the overall supply in the surrounding business environment with a differentiated offering for competitive advantage.Practical implicationsThe research suggests that an appropriate co-locating strategy, for example, when planning the tenant mix of the facility, can contribute to creating a vivid business network in the external environment, which raises the facility to a role of a central entity in such a network.Originality/valueThe findings explaining how co-location affects the businesses within the facility and within a wider networked environment are novel to the scholarly knowledge on co-location. The research bridges the theories of co-location and business networks that have been treated as separate discourses in previous research.

Stakeholder enrolment and business network formation: a process perspective on technology innovation

Entrepreneurial healthcare firms rarely possess all requisite resources to successfully develop and deploy knowledge-intensive technological innovations. It is critical for such firms to understand, manage, and cultivate networks of partners to gain access to essential strategic resources and to shape the viability of resultant networks in a mutually beneficial way. Firms accomplish this through an intentional process of stakeholder enrolment under conditions of risk and uncertainty. This paper examines a multi-year case study about the development and deployment of a personal health management system (PHMS) within the US healthcare industry in order to illustrate how organisational goals shape stakeholder enrolment processes and how outcomes affect the way in which networks form, adapt, and evolve. This study integrates and draws upon business network adaptation and stakeholder enrolment processes to present a theoretical framework for conceptualising and understanding entrepreneurial networks for technological innovations.

Stakeholder enrolment and business network formation: a process perspective on technology innovation

Entrepreneurial healthcare firms rarely possess all requisite resources to successfully develop and deploy knowledge-intensive technological innovations. It is critical for such firms to understand, manage, and cultivate networks of partners to gain access to essential strategic resources and to shape the viability of resultant networks in a mutually beneficial way. Firms accomplish this through an intentional process of stakeholder enrolment under conditions of risk and uncertainty. This paper examines a multi-year case study about the development and deployment of a personal health management system (PHMS) within the US healthcare industry in order to illustrate how organisational goals shape stakeholder enrolment processes and how outcomes affect the way in which networks form, adapt, and evolve. This study integrates and draws upon business network adaptation and stakeholder enrolment processes to present a theoretical framework for conceptualising and understanding entrepreneurial networks for technological innovations.

How to engage small retail businesses in workplace violence prevention: Perspectives from small businesses and influential organizations.

Small retail businesses experience high robbery and violent crime rates leading to injury and death. Workplace violence prevention programs (WVPP) based on Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design reduce this risk, but low small business participation limits their effectiveness. Recent dissemination models of occupational safety and health information recommend collaborating with an intermediary organization to engage small businesses. Qualitative interviews with 70 small business operators and 32 representatives of organizations with small business influence were conducted to identify factors and recommendations for improving dissemination of a WVPP. Both study groups recommended promoting WVPPs through personal contacts but differed on other promotion methods and the type of influential groups to target. Small business operators indicated few connections to formal business networks. Dissemination of WVPPs to small businesses may require models inclusive of influential individuals (e.g., respected business owners) as intermediaries to reach small businesses with few formal connections.

Analysing the Viability of Business Networks in Multinational Organisations: A Case Study of the Aerospace and Defence Industry

This paper outlines ways of increasing the productivity and performance of organisational networks within multinational corporations. It explores their heterogeneous knowledge structures, while analysing their strengths and weaknesses. The research examines the collaborative knowledge networks of one of the largest multinational defence and aerospace organisations in the world and adopts an interpretivist philosophy, using a qualitative research methodology. This study argues that, both informal and formal business networks should be supported by management to enhance knowledge sharing between different groups within multinational organisations. It also argues that, knowledge sharing policies should be reviewed on an on-going basis in order to create a robust network of networks while acknowledging the importance of smaller and more isolated knowledge exchange communities.

Managing Knowledge through Video‐Based Communities

This article proposes that video‐based information network (VIN) tools as a type of social software are a form of infrastructure that promotes the creation of new knowledge that transcends space and time in business activities. The first of two new insights discussed in the article concerns the effects of diverse communication and collaboration provided by VIN tools. Real‐time communication and collaboration enabled by VIN tools, which combine and process images, sound, and data, result in creating particular modes of use of VIN tools specific to the company using them. The second insight is the formation of new business networks and the facilitation of knowledge creation activities through the use of VIN tools.The article considers four elements of information and communications technology (ICT) organizational capability that promote knowledge creation activities through these particular modes of use of VIN tools: ICT application capability, creative dialogue capability, context architect capability, and boundary consolidation capability. It also illustrates that the dynamic relationship of these four elements promotes the formation of business networks and the formation, maintenance, and development of knowledge communities and leads to new knowledge creation. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Building Dynamic Capabilities in Emerging Markets: The Roles of Networks and National Culture

Building on social networks theory and the dynamic capabilities framework, this study investigates the effects of wholly owned foreign subsidiaries’ formal (contractual) and informal (relational) business networks on their capability building activities. We also examine how moderating effects of Assertiveness and Power Distance dimensions of cultural distance (CD) between the host and home countries of wholly owned foreign subsidiaries (WOFS) will influence the above relationships. Data from 175 WOFS in the Philippines reports that while formal business networks are negatively related to capability building activities, informal business networks are positively related to capability building activities. Further, our findings show a negative interaction between formal business networks and the Power Distance dimension of CD, while the interaction between informal business networks and the Assertiveness dimension of CD is positively related to capability building. These results indicate that WOFS’ ability to...

Capability perspective on business network formation

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the intentional formation of business networks in the wastewater industry. It enriches the theory‐building of the formation of business networks by drawing on theoretical contributions to business networks and capabilities. The paper describes, assesses and predicts scenarios relevant to the formation of business networks in the wastewater industry.Design/methodology/approachThe research methodology employed is based on multiple sources of data in a multi‐method design, interpreting potential scenarios of business networks.FindingsThe findings reveal that water scarcity, population growth and economic constrains jeopardize existing business networks in the wastewater industry. Two potential scenarios: re‐inventing the centralized system through on‐site systems for mass‐markets; and expanding on‐site systems into mass‐markets seem realizable. A comparison of the two scenarios suggests that the first scenario is in a superior position to utilize the business opportunities offered.Research limitations/implicationsResearch limitations arise from the qualitative nature of the research undertaken.Practical implicationsCapability alignments and barriers suggest that the re‐inventing the centralized system through on‐site systems for mass‐markets scenario, is the most suitable for implementation. The knowledge gained allows managers to outline a specific approach for developing the capabilities required, in order to take advantage of the alignments and overcome the barriers that may exist.Originality/valueThe paper highlights that building theories of business networks may benefit from combining the formation of business networks with dynamic and operational capabilities.

Mental models of Greek entrepreneurs: evidence from two networks

This paper discusses the role of managerial mental models (cognitive structures) in the framework of the firm’s strategic marketing development. The conceptualisation is based on theories of cognition, learning and strategy development. The empirical part focuses on the exploration of mental models adopted by Greek entrepreneurs. The subjects are members of two formal business networks, founded to promote sector business growth. The qualitative study adopted semi-structured interviews of members of the operational networks of sectors of food and beverages (F&B) and construction materials (CM) in the region of Karditsa (Greece) and revealed the differences of the mental models adopted by respective members. The findings indicate that the mental models adopted by the members of the F&B network are mainly firm and competition centred, whereas the mental models of the members of the CM network are mainly customer and market centred. The findings are in accordance with the Karakaya and Yannopoulos (2010) classification and support the thesis that the adopted mental models often affect organisational learning and the intended knowledge management.

Dynamic Formation of Business Networks

New business opportunities rarely conform to the way the industry traditionally approached the market, which is an opportunity for newcomers and flexible small and medium-sized enterprises to be the first in recognizing and taking advantage of emerging market opportunities. However, newcomers and small and medium-sized enterprises may be too young or too small to possess all the required competencies and resources. They need to organize themselves in business networks, in which business partners complement each other. This article suggests a sketch of the form and methods of a framework that allows the ‘Quality of Information’-based discovery of potential business partners who can offer resources like sensors, actuators, and processing services. In the Real World Internet, this would enable small and medium-sized enterprises to create an appropriate business network and to quickly react to emerging business opportunities.

Condicionantes para a formação de redes interorganizacionais no setor de confecção de Boa Vista-RR

As redes de colaboração são empreendimentos, baseados na confiança e cooperação, nos quais a interdependência entre as organizações as torna mais fortes e mais dependentes da parceria. Entretanto, associar-se a uma rede é um desafio, pois envolve um relacionamento aberto com outros empresários. Este estudo tem como objetivo identificar os condicionantes para propensão em atuação em redes de empresas no ramo de confecções em Boa Vista. Foram analisadas a influência da confiança, os fatores motivadores e inibidores, e fez-se uma análise de redes sociais, a fim de identificar por meio do grau de centralidade, proximidade, intermediação e da centralidade geodésica, bem como a posição de cada empresa em relação às demais, caso se efetivasse a formação de redes entre as empresas estudadas. Essa pesquisa descritiva, transversal, tendo como método empregado, o quantitativo aplicado através de survey, cujos dados foram analisados com os softwares UNICET 6.289 e PAJEK 1.19. Como resultados, identificou-se a possibilidade de formação de três redes de empresas. As principais atividades a serem compartilhadas são: transporte, aquisição de produtos e assistência técnica. Quanto às informações compartilháveis estão: o custo de matérias primas, fontes de fornecimento e tecnologias. Também foi observado que, dentre os principais objetivos comuns para a formação de redes das empresas encontram-se exercer maior influência no mercado e aumentar o poder de negociação. Alem disso, os possíveis grupos de empresas do setor, demandariam formas de gestão distintas e particulares, dependentes de estruturas relacionais de cada grupo de empresas.

High-Risk and Low-Risk Cooperative Exchanges and Perceived Benefits in Formal Business Networks

In spite of the vast literature on the benefits of networks to business success, little is known about the impact of membership of traditional kinds of formal business networks. Using a relatively large sample of US industrial associations and community business networks, the authors examine the relationship between trust, two kinds of cooperative exchanges and perceived benefits from network membership. They test propositions from social capital and institutional theory regarding the role of structural and relational network features on trust levels. The findings reveal generally high levels of trust and moderate levels of low-risk cooperation, but low levels of high-risk cooperation and low reported benefits of membership. Support is provided for social capital theory. Network structural features are not related to trust, but may indirectly impact on it through relationships that are strongly associated with trust. This analysis suggests that networks may be advised to specialize in one or the other kind of cooperative exchange and obtain the corresponding benefits. Tailoring the types of cooperative exchange encouraged in a network to the benefits desired could make these traditional kinds of networks more useful as mechanisms for business success.

The economics of formal business networks

This paper analyzes the under-researched issue of formal business networks comprising voluntary groupings of entrepreneurs who share knowledge and experiences between themselves. Economic analysis is used to show how formal business networks which enable entrepreneurs to share good and bad practice can improve efficiency and social welfare. The paper also derives conditions for the existence and equilibrium size of formal business networks. Two principles of network design are proposed to promote their stability and to avoid their collapse.

Gender and the Use of Business Advice: Evidence from Firms in the Scottish Service Sector

Within the UK the levels of female entrepreneurship are considerably lower than in many of its peer countries. As part of a strategy to remedy this apparent shortfall, and to improve the environment for existing female-owned businesses, the UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) launched a ‘Strategic Framework for Women's Enterprise’ in 2003. A central rationale for the development of this strategy is a belief in the inadequacies of current business-advice provision and limited access to informal and formal business networks, mentors, and business support for women. However, there appears to be little evidence, either in this paper or in the body of previous research, to support the view that, within the UK, government agencies need to shape business support to reflect the gender of the business user. Drawing upon a sample of 650 small service sector firms in Scotland, we report the findings of a detailed postal questionnaire concerned with exploring usage and satisfaction of a range of formal and informal sources of business advice amongst male and female business owners. Bivariate analysis shows that amongst formal sources women are more likely to use friends and relatives, the Small Business Gateway, and chambers of commerce but are less likely to use suppliers and consultants. However, multivariate analysis suggests that, within the service sector, neither use of external advice nor impact of advice—either formal or informal—is greatly influenced by gender. Rather, it was the characteristics of service sector firms, most notably the number of employees and exporting activity, that explained the use of external advice. Therefore, a nongendered view of business support by the DTI appears more appropriate within the service sector. Nevertheless, the data do indicate more frequent use of informal family-network contacts amongst women business owners.