Search results

The aim of this study is to discuss how social capital is developed in the internationalization process of small and medium‐sized family enterprises (family SMEs).

This paper reports findings from an in‐depth multiple case study with four Finnish manufacturing family SMEs. The data were analyzed through the perspectives of structural holes, network closure, and the interplay between these two mechanisms.

The material in the paper demonstrated that family entrepreneurs had a large number of structural holes when launching international operations, but also after several years of running international operations. Instead of trying to span structural holes, they concentrated merely on developing the network closure with agents and subsidiary staff. The case firms spent a lot of resources on finding suitable network ties and on developing good network closure with the selected social capital ties.

There are some aspects that might differ depending on the home and target country of firms. For instance, firms in some Asian countries are able to utilize emigrant relationships that help them with networking, which was not the case here with Finnish family SMEs.

Family entrepreneurs seem to have a tendency to concentrate on a limited number of foreign partners, and to neglect the building of new relationships that could help them in future challenges.

This study: responds to calls for more research on network development in the entrepreneurial process, especially in the context of internationalization; introduces the notions of network closure and structural holes to the internationalization context; and reveals how social capital restricts and facilitates family SMEs' international operations.

Understanding China's economic success requires insights into its peculiar guanxi‐based market. Many scholars are confused about how to apply Western network theories to the guanxi‐based Chinese market. This paper aims to contribute to this comprehensive topic by theoretically exploring the differences among three fundamental network concepts: guanxi; structural hole; and closure.

Following Heide, the present paper categorises networks into three dimensions: network initiation, network maintenance and network termination, each based on different time phases. The three fundamental network concepts in every dimension are compared, laying out their similarities and dissimilarities in detail.

Although each of the three networks are initiated either naturally or artificially, guanxi is closely embedded in Chinese institutions. Unlike structural hole and closure, which can be applied at any level, guanxi is a special relation that only exists at the individual level. Structural hole and closure highlight the structures of the networks that bring them various benefits and constraints. Such merits are not evident in guanxi, in which favour exchange plays a crucial role in connecting entities. In addition, guanxi has special rules that affect the strength of ties.

The purpose of this paper is to articulate the differences among guanxi, structural hole and closure. The systematic framework provides a platform to scholars interested in applying the Western network theory to guanxi‐based markets. The study work also provides new insights to non‐Chinese actors doing business in China.

Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) create quasi-real social systems in which players can interact with one another, and quasi-real economic systems where players can consume and trade in-game items with virtual currency. The in-game currency price, an important indicator of a virtual economy, is highly contingent on players’ behavioral interaction in MMORPGs. The purpose of this paper is to adopt a network perspective to examine how topological characteristics of social networks in an MMORPG, namely, network externalities, density, and closure, would exert impacts on the in-game currency price.

Players’ behavioral data were collected from a popular MMORPG in China on a weekly basis for 52 weeks. With a time series analytical approach, the empirical model for the price function of in-game currency was estimated with vector autoregression.

The results show that the number of core avatars and network density are positively associated with in-game currency price, while network closure has a negative effect on in-game currency price. However, in-game currency price is found to have no significant relationship with the trade volume of the currency.

This study fills in an important research gap by investigating factors influencing the in-game currency price of MMORPGs from a network perspective, which contributes to the existing literature of network effects and advances our understanding about how players’ interaction will influence the dynamics of a virtual economy. The findings could offer useful insights for online game companies to better understand their players’ social interaction and consumption behavior.

This paper aims to analyze the relationship between different kinds of networking and the performance of firms in industry clusters. In particular, it studies the importance of local embeddedness and external openness for product success in two wine clusters in Chile and Italy.

The analysis is based on original firm‐level data. A case‐study methodology is combined with econometric analysis.

The empirical analysis shows that local embeddedness positively influences the development of successful products, but with decreasing returns. More importantly, however, the author finds that external openness is more significant than local embeddedness for explaining firm success.

The paper has implications for managers not working in current “hot spots” who are keen to transform their environments into thriving economies. The author recommends that managers look beyond the local context and establish extra‐cluster linkages with relevant knowledge sources, which may vary from sector to sector. Managers should tap into local knowledge but avoid local over‐embeddedness.

The paper contributes to the understanding of how and whether networks influence the performance of cluster firms.

To stimulate further research aimed at understanding how value can be cocreated by participants in digital ecosystems, this paper draws attention to new ventures as focal actors in innovation ecosystems orchestrated by hub firms.

This is a conceptual article that imports the notion of network oscillation (a pattern of brokerage-closure-brokerage) from social network studies to the conversation on digital ecosystems.

One potential pattern that a new venture may pursue to increase its prospects of cocreating value in an innovation ecosystem includes: (1) brokerage to gain managerial attention from a business unit of the hub firm, (2) switching to closure to attract attention from the wider hub firm (e.g. headquarters) and (3) reverting to brokerage to pursue synergistic network expansion opportunities from the wider interfirm ecosystem.

The exploratory ideas in this paper can help advance both entrepreneurship and information systems research.

This paper offers preliminary ideas on egocentric network dynamics associated with a new venture partnering with a large ecosystem hub firm. Such a perspective is appropriate since achieving value creation through active partnering requires building and strengthening ties over time across the hub firm's ecosystem.

Rethinking how to build resilience in supply chains is once again highlighted by COVID-19. Research on supply chain resilience has established flexibility as a firm-level antecedent that contributes to supply chain resilience. However, the authors know little about how supply chain flexibility is developed within a firm. Drawing on social capital theory, the authors claim that the way supply chain managers are embedded in their social networks plays a critical role in developing this antecedent. Specifically, the authors hypothesize that supply chain managers' structural and relational embeddedness in their reference network, comprised of individuals from whom they seek advice, is instrumental to developing supply chain flexibility, which subsequently enhances the firm's supply chain resilience.

Survey data collected from 485 manufacturing firms in Australia and Hayes and Preacher's (2014) parallel multiple mediator model were employed to empirically test the hypotheses.

The findings of the study establish that supply chain managers' structural and relational embeddedness in their reference network indeed have implications for developing supply chain resilience. Furthermore, the mediator through which managers' social embeddedness influences supply chain resilience is identified in the current study.

The study contributes to the extant literature on supply chain resilience, investigating the role that supply chain managers' social capital play in developing the resilience of their firm.

The purpose of this paper is to utilize key insights from social network theory (SNT) to enhance understanding of overcoming the liability of outsidership as a prerequisite for firm internationalization. Specifically, it examines the influence of structural attributes of networks on the motivational stance of both network insiders and outsiders in relation to overcoming the liability of outsidership. A related aim is to explore the role of network positions of insider actors in terms of its impact on the speed of market entry.

The paper draws on the extant literatures on firm internationalization, particularly the liability of outsidership, and SNT to identify to what extent SNT can be utilized to deeply understand the process of overcoming the liability of outsidership. The authors put forward eight propositions linking structural and positioning attributes of networks with overcoming the liability of outsidership.

SNT provides strong potential for a more comprehensive understanding of the internationalization phenomena through shedding light on the relationship between the liability of foreignness and the liability of outsidership. The paper demonstrates that while the cost of overcoming the liability of outsidership is higher in closed target network as compared to open networks, the expected benefits of an insidership position in closed or open networks are affected by the outsider firm’s perception of the liability of foreignness in the market it wishes to enter. Considering the differential enabling characteristics of closed and open networks in terms of facilitating tacit knowledge sharing as opposed to explicit information flows, the authors reveal that liability of foreignness operates as a negative moderator for the relationship between network structure and the willingness of the outsider to invest in gaining insidership. The analysis of the paper also shows that the positional attributes of the network insider are relevant in outsiders’ motivation in terms of the speed of market entry that they seek to achieve.

This study theoretically contributes to the internationalization research through integrating SNT with the liability of outsidership understanding of firm internationalization. This is a timely attempt as no systematic application of the conceptual apparatus of SNT in the internationalization research context has been studied. It adds a more coherent inside-out perspective into the overcoming the liability of outsidership discussion which has been extensively dominated by an outside-in perspective.

The purpose of this paper is to seek to develop a theoretical framework for understanding the structure of effective knowledge sharing networks in professional organizations.

A literature review is performed to achieve the purpose. This article integrates two streams of literature: related to knowledge network structure and related to professional complex systems, to gain insight into the structure of effective knowledge sharing networks in professional complex systems. This preliminary theoretical framework is then used to put forth strategies for knowledge management and collective learning in professional organizations.

An analysis of knowledge networks and complex systems literatures suggests that effective knowledge sharing networks in complex systems may be richer in density compared to brokerage. However, integrating this analysis with the literature on professional organizations, including “subgoals” theory, suggests that the reverse may be true in professional complex systems, i.e. that effective knowledge sharing networks in professional complex systems may be richer in brokerage and hierarchy, rather than in density.

The paper provides a foundation for future research avenues in the professional organizational context. For instance the framework could be used to explore effective knowledge sharing structures across professional subgroups and hierarchical levels in a hospital context; and across faculty, staff, and administrators in a college/university context.

A key implication is that, in order to enable collective learning in professional organizations, senior executives must make proactive and unceasing efforts to: coordinate knowledge exchange across professional subgroups; create cognitive linkages between subgroup actions and organizational outcomes; and connect professional subgroups with the changing external environment.

The theoretical framework lays a foundation for addressing the gap in the literature related to knowledge creation and collective learning in professional organizations.

Previous research has documented emergence of global work values and an important function of multinational organizations (MNOs) in their diffusion. However, studies on the processes supporting the diffusion of global work values have been limited. This study seeks to conceptually explore the roles of institutional mechanisms and moderating functions of social network structures and cultural values in diffusion of global work values within the context of MNOs.

Adopting a multilevel approach and grounding the arguments in the neo‐institutional framework, this work synthesizes cross‐cultural research with organizational theory research to present a conceptual model of the diffusion of global work values in the context of MNOs.

It is proposed that the level of diffusion of global work values by members of MNOs is positively related to the level of institutionalization of these values within and between MNOs by means of regulative and normative institutional processes. The arguments also suggest that regulative and normative institutional processes are likely to diffuse global work values more efficiently among members of MNOs with collectivistic value orientations and tight dense social networks with closures.

The findings may be useful for managers looking to implement global corporate culture and values programs, searching for the right mechanisms to diffuse values among units with certain cultural backgrounds, social network structures and institutional contexts.

This paper combines diverse research streams to elaborate on the dynamic interfaces of global work values diffusion and lays groundwork for future empirical investigations.

The purpose of this paper is to propose an integrated theory to explain the effect of regional culture on high-technology micro and small (HTMS) firm outcomes. The integrated culture-social capital outcomes (CSCO) model examines the impact of culture on performance and evolution of HTMS firms through the mediating effect of intra-firm and inter-firm social capital.

Theoretical insights from social capital and culture are combined with the results of previous empirical observations to explain cross-cultural differences in the performance of HTMS firms. The authors then propose the CSCO model as a means to integrate and advance theory building.

The CSCO model explains the impact of culture on performance and evolution of HTMS firms through intra-firm and inter-firm social capital networks. Cultural context affects the performance of high-tech micro and small firms through the nature and structure of the networks involved in building and exploiting inter-firm and intra-firm social capital. Moreover, regional culture indirectly influences the balance between positive and negative effects of social capital on firm performance. These observations explain inconsistent findings from past empirical research and contribute to understanding the “embeddedness paradox” of social capital.

The present model is not comprehensive. It does not account for many contextual factors identified in organizational network and cluster literature that contribute to the development of HTMS firms. Future research should consider the relationships between the three dimensions of social capital and seek to test the model with rigorous data collection and analysis.

While past studies focus on the direct relationship between regional culture and firm performance, this paper proposes the mediating effect of internal and external social capital between cultural context and firm performance. This proposal contributes to social capital and entrepreneurship literature and provides a potential explanation for inconsistent findings in past empirical research.