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Researchers agree that collaboration networks can be an important implement in a firm’s innovation process, but there is limited empirical evidence on actually how they facilitate the new product development (NPD). The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Using longitudinal and multisource data on a sample of firms engaged in the Chinese automobile industry, the authors examine the structural properties of collaboration networks and their possible influences on firms’ NPD performance.

The results indicate that the structural features of the technology-based collaboration networks in the automobile industry have a low degree of collaborative integration and they influence firms’ NPD performance in diverse ways. The authors find that the direct ties, indirect ties and structural holes of the collaboration networks are all positively associated with firms’ number of new products. However, the authors have not found the evidence that the number of direct ties can moderate the relationship between the indirect ties and the NPD performance.

First, previous researches concerning the network mainly focused on their influence on technology innovation, few scholars studied the relationship between collaboration network and NPD. Second, the data used in this paper are true and valid, they are all from relevant departments of the Chinese government. Third, the empirical research of new products in China’s manufacturing industry is relatively new.

Using Social Network Analysis (SNA), this paper examines the inter-country airline logistics relationships in East Asia. Based on the flight schedule data, which has been gathered by the authors, the overall features of airline logistics structure and the specific roles of each airport could be more clearly examined.

The main results of this paper are as follows: Beijing has the highest Degree Centrality, but excluding the domestic lines, Incheon has the highest Degree Centrality, which would imply that a relatively high Centrality of logistics for China’s airports is due to the greater number of domestic lines. The focal hub status of Incheon airport is also supported by the fact that Incheon contains the highest Betweenness Centrality.

Secondly, evaluated by the types of brokerage role, Incheon has a remarkably strong role as a liaison, which means Incheon airport functions as a transfer hub between two different regions outside of Korea. However, considering only the to/from China airline links, Hong Kong has the highest score as a liaison. These conflicting results imply that as China’s airline transportation continuously increases, Hong Kong will become a strong rival to Incheon.

Thirdly, in the analysis of Structural Hole which functions the broker and acts as a hub by linking unconnected airports, Incheon has the highest possibilities as a hub airport. However, only considering to/from China airlines, Hong Kong would dominate Incheon.

The purpose of this study is to show that an important antecedent of perceived knowledge quality is an employee’s position in the organizational network due to their participation in different interest groups. In particular, this study theorizes that brokers establish a network of groups, which increases perceived knowledge quality vis-a-vis the social capital that employees draw on.

To test this study’s hypotheses on the influence of the structural position of knowledge brokers on the positive effects of social capital on perceived knowledge quality, this study combines data from an online survey with longitudinal archival data from a youth-care organization who used an enterprise social network (ESN) for knowledge sharing.

This study found a mitigating effect of being a broker on the relationship between trust and perceived knowledge quality, and also between inter-team interaction and perceived knowledge quality for lower levels of both trust and inter-team interaction on perceived knowledge quality.

Although the hypotheses are supported, in light of prior research, the authors would have expected stronger and positive effects.

This research is particularly interesting because it emphasizes the important role of social capital. For organizations that deal with trust issues, it might help to stimulate employees to broaden their activity on ESNs by becoming active in multiple groups.

While knowledge sharing on ESNs is generally conducive for creating organizational value, there is a lack of understanding of what drives employees’ perception of the quality of shared knowledge, and how this perception may depend on their position in the social network. To investigate this question, the authors turn to social capital theory.

The purpose of this article is to develop a model to assess entrepreneurial ecosystems. Specifically, the authors examine how to measure value creation and value capture mechanisms from a single participant's perspective and at the ecosystem level through a strategic value network-based approach.

Building on extant research on strategic networks, value networks and business models and leveraging a qualitative survey, the authors develop and test an assessment tool to measure value creation and capture within the entrepreneurial ecosystem of the San Francisco Bay Area.

The authors show that value-based measures on entrepreneurial ecosystems provide a systemic approach to assess how ecosystems operate, which can guide policymakers, entrepreneurs and all the other stakeholders of entrepreneurial ecosystems in their strategic decision-making process.

The authors provide an original model grounded in the strategic management and entrepreneurship literature for entrepreneurial ecosystems' assessment as few studies have done before. Besides, the authors provide an illustrative attempt to show how to empirically apply the original model by assessing the San Francisco Bay Area's entrepreneurial ecosystem.

This study aims to contribute to the early but fervent debate on blockchain and supply networks by proposing a novel theoretical perspective on blockchain adoption grounded on social capital theory. In particular, it seeks to answer the following question: what is the role of social capital in shaping the decision to adopt blockchain in supply networks?

Multiple case-studies, based on interviews performed with managers of eight firms, were used.

The social capital theory emerged as an additional but necessary lens to investigate blockchain implementation in supply networks. The intuitions proposed highlighted the importance of managers’ sensemaking for investigating technology adoption. Relational capital emerged as a necessary but not sufficient condition to adopt blockchain in supply networks. In addition, it is argued a relationship between competitive opportunities at the firm level and the idea to adopt the blockchain. The opportunity to act as “Tertius Gaudens” or as “Tertius Iungens” information brokers in supply networks should severely affect firms’ proneness toward the adoption of blockchain solutions.

This is one of the first studies in the literature investigating blockchain adoption in supply networks from a social capital perspective. It introduces new issues to the debate related to the role of blockchain in the supply chain by discussing the role of goal misalignment and competitive advantage, which emerged as crucial for shaping the decision to adopt blockchain in supply networks.

Many start-ups do not survive the first few years of business. Previous studies suggest that networks play a role in start-ups' success, but this positive effect has limits. The purpose of this paper is to answer the call for a better understanding of the dark side of networks and the variables that condition variables' effect on the likelihood of start-ups' survival.

A longitudinal research design includes 139 start-ups (102 from Germany and 37 from Portugal) and a total of 252 participants. A generalized linear mixed model (GLMM)was applied to estimate all the coefficients, to test the mediation (H1), the moderation (H2) and the moderated mediation (H3) while considering the economic situation of the start-up (sales growth), start-ups' networking behavior, creativity orientation and ultimately the likelihood of survival.

Based on an empirical study from two different countries, the results show that effective networking is contingent on the start-up's economic situation and creative potential. Specifically, the results point to situations in which early sales growth may lead to external networking, which, in contexts of low creativity-oriented start-ups, can compromise the start-ups' success.

Based on the findings, the authors compare scenarios in which networking increases the chances for start-up survival with situations where networking can have adverse effects. This study highlights the importance of considering specific start-up parameters, such as start-ups' economic situation and level of creativity orientation, in the business venturing literature.

Network analysis is a well consolidated research area in several disciplines. Within management and organizational studies, network scholars consolidated a set of research practices that allowed ease of data collection, high inter case comparability, establishment of nomological laws and commitment to social capital motivation. This paper aims to elicit the criticism it has received and highlight the unsettled lacunae.

This paper sheds light on Network Analysis’s breakthroughs, while showing how its scholars innovated by responding to critics, and identifying outstanding debates.

The paper identifies and discusses three streams of criticism that are still outstanding: the role of human agency, the meaning of social ties and the treatment of temporality.

This paper brings to fore current debates within the Network Analysis community, highlighting areas where future studies might contribute.

Effectively managing an intermodal logistics network has become a significant strategic consideration in international logistics. This study aims to empirically examine the way in which intermodal logistics network coordination can be successfully developed and sustained, and to analyze whether the highly coordinated intermodal logistics network may facilitate the greater logistics performance of network players as well as of the entire intermodal logistic network system. This study adopts social network embeddedness perspective to examine the determinants facilitating the higher level of coordination of the intermodal logistics network. An explorative interview method is being employed for the empirical analysis, and the results show that strong, dense and bridging ties within the network mechanisms facilitate a greater intermodal logistics network coordination. As a result, this helps to enhance the logistics performance of the intermodal logistics network system and its players by facilitating the enhancement of logistics services effectiveness and operational efficiency.

This study investigates the extent to which structural equivalence between acquiring and target firms is associated with post-merger and acquisition (M&A) performance—a relationship that is proposed to be moderated by industry-level vertical relatedness between acquiring and target firms.

Applying social network analysis and regression, this study analyzes a buyer–supplier relationship network dataset of 279 M&A deals completed between 2010 and 2017 to test the hypotheses. Structural equivalence is measured as the proportion of common customers and suppliers between an acquiring firm and a target firm.

Supporting a view about the importance of supply chains in explaining M&As outcomes, the results suggest that the structural equivalence in the supplier network is positively associated with post-M&A firm performance. The results also show that the effect of the structural equivalence in the customer network is moderated by vertical relatedness between two merging firms (i.e. structural equivalence contributes to post-M&A performance when vertical industry relatedness is high).

This study contributes to the M&A and supply network literature by investigating the performance implications of structural equivalence in supplier and customer networks, demonstrating the importance of taking a supply chain view when explaining M&As outcomes. Specifically, the authors suggest considering structural equivalence as a new type of relatedness between merging firms (i.e. relatedness in network resources in explaining post-M&A performance). It also indicates how industry-level vertical resource relatedness, which is about relatedness in internal resources between the two firms, could interact with firm-level network resource relatedness, which is about relatedness in external supply chain resources between the two firms, in affecting post-M&A performance.

As intermodal logistics networks play a crucial role in enhancing the entire logistics performance, effectively managing the intermodal logistics network has become a significant strategic consideration in international logistics. The existing literature stresses that inter-organizational knowledge exchange is essential to successfully integrating logistics components and for maximizing logistics performance in the long run. These contentions ensure that knowledge exchange between intermodal logistics network entities-such as shipping lines, port terminal operators, freight forwarders, road and rail freight operators and other related logistics operators-are key factors in facilitating the successful integration of an intermodal logistics network because an intermodal logistics network is an integrated part of the entire international logistics system. This paper aims to investigate the question of how intermodal logistics network entities can successfully exchange knowledge with each other, and whether the knowledge exchange can contribute to the effective integration of the intermodal logistics network. For this, this paper adopts the social network embeddedness perspective in order to identify a useful inter-organizational relationship mechanism within the intermodal logistics networks, allowing the facilitation of knowledge exchange among the network players. A conceptual framework will be developed for the exploration of the aforementioned relationships between the social network mechanisms, i.e. network density, tie strength, knowledge exchange among network entities, and intermodal logistics network integration. Following the parameters of this framework, the theoretical and practical implications will be discussed.