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Although the literature addressing entrepreneurial networking is reaching a fairly high degree of sophistication and scope, there are certain critical areas where important questions remain unanswered. Specifically, research into the processes of entrepreneurial networking has been hindered by a paucity of longitudinal studies. Thus, the consideration of change over time is de facto limited. Moreover, accounts of how individuals actually use networks to learn about entrepreneurship, its practices and processes remain sparse. Yet, we know that learning is a social process, so the research gap lies in relating networks, as social contexts to the entrepreneurial learning process. Furthermore, since social relations are fundamental to everyone's life, and emerge, develop and change throughout their life course, people are embedded in social situations that put them in touch with others (Kim & Aldrich, 2005). Consequently, learning is often “located in the relations among actors” (Uzzi & Lancaster, 2003, p. 398). As well as direct learning through network contacts, network transitivity also facilitates learning by one embedded network member, through the knowledge held by a second member, about a third, as shown in Uzzi and Gillespie's (2002) study. Accordingly, in many ways how entrepreneurs go about using their networks and with whom they network may be critical for entrepreneurship and thus warrants investigation. It is to this end that we now consider the shape, content and process of entrepreneurial networking.

The sharp increase in interest in social networks among marketing scholars and practitioners has coincided with the rapid proliferation of social networks among broader populations. Considering the substantial body of research that has emerged, it is an opportune time to reflect on the state of social network research (SNR) in marketing. Therefore, this chapter reviews recent marketing research, organized according to substantive areas of interest, followed by a discussion of critical dimensions of SNR for researchers, including network actor characteristics, modes, boundaries, impacts, and mechanisms, as well as the relevant level of analysis. By documenting how SNR can inform marketing decisions and influence marketing outcomes, this study also establishes recommendations for research to advance the state of SNR in marketing. A 2 × 2 classification schema reveals four categories that might guide scholars' choices of research designs, theories, constructs, and measures for SNR.

This paper aims to demonstrate how vulnerable consumer-citizens mobilize social capital following a natural disaster, showing how different forms of social capital contribute to well-being and resilience.

An embedded case study design comparing three different social networks is employed.

Understanding the active role consumer-citizens play in provisioning within social networks provides a deeper understanding of the important mechanisms that explain how different forms of social capital contribute to well-being. The three identified networks demonstrate different structural signatures composed of differing forms of social capital that arise following a natural disaster.

Drawing on social capital theory, this study contributes to advancing transformative service research, providing implications for both theory and practice.

This study is one of the first to empirically compare networks in a natural disaster context, demonstrating the effects of bonding, bridging and linking social capital on well-being and community resilience. This study shows how social network analysis can be used to model network processes and mechanisms. Findings highlight the important role of social provisioning to vulnerable consumer-citizens as an alternate form of consumption.

Digitalised and interconnected production systems in the era of fourth industrial revolution or Industry 4.0 (I4.0) have triggered the need of reshaping the traditional Quality Management (QM) models and roles of quality professionals. The purpose of this paper is to review the body of literature on QM in the I4.0 environment (also termed as “Quality 4.0”) and identify future research possibilities.

The morphological analysis (MA) framework is used to identify research gaps in a systematic manner. We present the MA framework based on a literature review of 51 papers on the Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC) list identified using systematic review protocol.

The MA framework, built on six relevant dimensions, namely, production and operations function, scope of QM activities, enabling technologies, latent capabilities of digitalisation, performance metrics and QM principles, and 41 associated variants, reveals 367 research gaps as an upper bound of opportunities for future research.

This paper is possibly the first to use MA for reviewing the QM literature, presenting important contributions. The MA framework acts as a ready reckoner on the QM in I4.0 literature. It documents research gaps through the construction of a cross-consistency matrix.

This chapter examines organisational change processes that occur when accountability demands from powerful external stakeholders change. It investigates, firstly, whether these external accountability demands impact on the performance management systems of two different types of organisations. Secondly, it considers whether the goals for improved performance contained within the external accountability demands are realised. The chapter derives its primary insights from analysing in-depth interviews with managers working in a private sector company and in public sector organisations. The analyses reveal complex organisational responses. In the public sector case study, the organisations tended to reorient their performance management systems towards the external accountability demands; whilst in the private sector organisation, pressures from falling share prices forced managers to focus their decision making on the preferred performance measures contained in shareholders’ accountability demands. However, whilst there is some evidence of performance management system changes, the desires for improved performance subsumed by the external accountability demands are not necessarily realised through the performance management system changes.

This paper illuminates the distinction between individual and organizational actors in business-to-business markets as well as the coexistence of formal and informal mechanisms of coordination in multinational corporations. The main questions addressed include the following. (1) What factors influence the occurrence of personal contacts of foreign subsidiary managers in industrial multinational corporations? (2) How such personal contacts enable coordination in industrial markets and within multinational firms? The theoretical context of the paper is based on: (1) the interaction approach to industrial markets, (2) the network approach to industrial markets, and (3) the process approach to multinational management. The unit of analysis is the foreign subsidiary manager as the focal actor of a contact network. The paper is empirically focused on Portuguese sales subsidiaries of Finnish multinational corporations, which are managed by either a parent country national (Finnish), a host country national (Portuguese) or a third country national. The paper suggests eight scenarios of individual dependence and uncertainty, which are determined by individual, organizational, and/or market factors. Such scenarios are, in turn, thought to require personal contacts with specific functions. The paper suggests eight interpersonal roles of foreign subsidiary managers, by which the functions of their personal contacts enable inter-firm coordination in industrial markets. In addition, the paper suggests eight propositions on how the functions of their personal contacts enable centralization, formalization, socialization and horizontal communication in multinational corporations.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

The experience of successful firms has proven that one of the most important ways to promote co-learning and create successful networked innovations is the proper application of inter-organizational knowledge mechanisms. This study aims to use a resource-action-performance framework to open the black box on the relationship between networking capability and innovation performance. The research population embraces companies in the Iranian automotive industry.

Due to the latent nature of the variables studied, the required data are collected through a web-based cross-sectional survey. First, the content validity of the measurement tool is evaluated by experts. Then, a pre-test is conducted to assess the reliability of the measurement tool. All data are gathered by the Iranian Vehicle Manufacturers Association (IVMA) and Iranian Auto Parts Manufacturers Association (IAPMA) samples. The power analysis method and G*Power software are used to determine the sample size. Moreover, SmartPLS 3 and IBM SPSS 25 software are used for data analysis of the conceptual model and relating hypotheses.

The results of this study indicated that the relationships between networking capability, inter-organizational knowledge mechanisms and inter-organizational learning result in a self-reinforcing loop, with a marked impact on firm innovation performance.

Since there is little understanding of the interdependencies of networking capability, inter-organizational knowledge mechanisms, co-learning and their effect on firm innovation performance, most previous research studies have focused on only one or two of the above-mentioned variables. Thus, their cumulative effect has not examined yet. Looking at inter-organizational relationships from a network perspective and knowledge-based view (KBV), and to consider the simultaneous effect of knowledge mechanisms and learning as intermediary actions alongside, to consider the performance effect of the capability-building process, are the main advantages of this research.

The coordination of a manufacturing network is a challenging task and may be contingent upon the manufacturing environment. The purpose of this paper is to analyse how industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and manufacturing network coordination relate.

Based on a single case study, the paper at hand provides insights on IIoT enablers and the relationship to manufacturing coordination mechanism. The data sample is based on 15 group interviews with overall eight employees from headquarters and business units.

The derived results show that the IIoT enablers (digital technologies, connectivity, data, capabilities and management) are highly related to the manufacturing network coordination mechanism. The results indicate that IIoT initiatives and manufacturing network coordination should be designed to support each other.

The implementation if IIoT initiatives is often analysed in isolation without considering the manufacturing network and more specifically the manufacturing network coordination mechanism. The results highlight how the implementation of IIoT initiatives may act as trigger to adapt formal manufacturing network coordination mechanism.