Call for papers. Special Issue of the International Journal of
Entrepreneurship and Management on the role of networks in entrepreneurial
performance.
Papers may be of any type empirical studies, conceptual papers, reviews,
or research and teaching notes.
Deadline for submissions 1st Sept 2012. Papers will be published during
2013.
Networks have long been recognized as being important for SMEs, whether as
sources of new product development (Lipparini & Sobrero, 1994) or as a means
of accessing customers and distribution channels (Lee, Park, Yoon, & Park,
2004) for new products and services. Jack, Drakopoulou, Dodd & Anderson
(2008) argue that networks are essential to the entrepreneurial process in
that they provide a framework for processes aiming at organizing resources
according to opportunities. Yet we still know little about how
entrepreneurial firms discriminate between and use networks, and which
aspects of a chosen network lead to superior (or alternatively poorer)
performance. SMEs and micro-sized firms cannot, normally, access all the
resources they need in-house and because of their small size they often have
to source these externally. These resources include both physical goods and
intangible resources such as knowledge. There are skills and capabilities
involved in both learning about these resources and obtaining them at an
advantage, for example gaining privileged access to low prices or favourable
distribution channels, or to knowledge that others cannot obtain (Ruzzier,
Hisrich & Antoncic, 2006).
We know that social capital is an important factor in the building and
maintaining of helpful business relationships in some parts of the world
(for example, guanxi in China, Wasta in Arab countries, or the network of
businesses that supply Benetton in Italy or Inditex in Spain) (Li and Liu,
2010),. Yet as Anderson & Jack (2002) suggest, the nature, role and
application of social capital in an entrepreneurial context have not been
extensively explored. Are these networks a source of growth for firms
within them, or blockages to innovation? How do foreign entrepreneurs access
such networks? Tightly-knit relationships can constrain innovation by
restricting access to new knowledge but at the same time can enable it
through constructing an efficient channel for new ideas to be processed. An
important question is whether there are specific sectors in which the
benefits of strong relationships outweigh any disadvantages; and vice versa.
Furthermore, what are the etiquettes (Anderson & Jack, 2002) of social
capital formation, particularly in global industries?
Successful network participants are likely to have specific attributes that
enable them to form trusting (affective or cognitive) relationships (see,
for example, Tong, 2006). These attributes are likely to differ around the
world. They are also likely to vary according to the motives for forming a
relationship, whether it is a risky relationship in which the outcomes are
uncertain, as in the development of radical new products, or a joint venture
where the alliances are unbalanced in terms of the bases of power held by
the partners, or a relationship where the outcomes are more predictable
(Smith and Lohrke, 2008). We also still know little about how
entrepreneurial partners engage with networks whose participants have very
different characteristics to their own.
There are other rather surprising gaps in knowledge. For example, little
attention has been paid to the network development and networking activities
of female and ethnic entrepreneurs, and even less to whether they
participate in certain sectors, and to what effect, for example in agri-
businesses or technology-based SMEs. Typically female entrepreneurs have
different approaches to network participation compared with males (Baker,
Aldrich, & Nina, 1997). We speculate that the role of females are likely to
be different in different industries, and different geographical locations,
and perhaps also in different roles (Klyver, 2011). This is important
because recent research (for example, Hampton, Coope and McGowan, 2009)
suggests that women are a significant yet untapped source of entrepreneurial
potential. A better understanding of issues surrounding the activities of
female entrepreneurs would also help identify ways in which others might be
encouraged to engage in new venturing. Other personal attributes likely to
be relevant in the forming of network relationships and which are currently
not well understood, include class (Anderson and Miller, 2003), and
educational level (Ibarra, 1993).
From this brief overview of the literature we can identify a number of
potentially fruitful questions for investigation, including (but not limited
to):
The role of absorptive capacity in SMEs ability to access and
utilise externally-held resources
Global entrepreneurship in the smart digital age
Networks and family businesses
Capabilities, competences and tools that might be needed for small
firms to use networks effectively
The role of social capital in entrepreneurial success
The process and effect/s of SMEs networks in the new product
development process
The influence of network participation in design outcomes
Attributes of effective boundary-spanners
The extent to which government agencies may create effective
entrepreneurial networks
Collaborative work and the role of networks in co-creation
Networking as opportunity brokering
Indicative references
Anderson, A., & Jack, S. (2002). The articulation of social capital in
entrepreneurial networks: A glue or a lubricant? Entrepreneurship & Regional
Development, 14(3), 193-21
Anderson, A., & Miller, C. (2003). Class matters: Human and social capital
in the entrepreneurial process. Journal of Socio-Economics, 32(1), 17-36.
Baker, T., Aldrich, H., & Nina, I. (1997). Invisible entrepreneurs: The
neglect of women business owners by mass media and scholarly journals in the
USA. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 9(3), 221-238.
Bradley S., Wiklund, J., & Shepherd D. (2011). Swinging a double-edged
sword: The effect of slack on entrepreneurial management and growth. Journal
of Business Venturing, 26(5), 537-554
Smith, D., &. Lohrke, F. (2008). Entrepreneurial network development:
Trusting in the process, Journal of Business Research, 61(4), 315-322.
Hampton, A., Coope, S., & McGowan, P. (2009). Female entrepreneurial
networks and networking activity in technology-based ventures: An
exploratory study. International Small Business Journal, 27(2), 193-214.
Ibarra, H (1993). Personal networks of women and minorities in management:
A conceptual framework. The Academy of Management Review, 18(1), 56-87.
Klyver, K. (2011). Gender differences in entrepreneurial networks: Adding an
alter perspective, Gender in Management: An International Journal, 26(5),
332-350.
Lee, S-J., Park,, G-M., Byungun Yoon, B-Y., & Park, J-W. (2010). Open
innovation in SMEs- An intermediated network model. Research Policy,39(2),
290-300.
Lipparini, A., & Sobrero, M, (1994). The glue and the pieces:
Entrepreneurship and innovation in small-firm networks,Journal of Business
Venturing, 9(2), 125-140.
Jack, S., Drakopoulou, A., Dodd, S., & Anderson, A. (2008). Change and the
development of entrepreneurial networks over time: A processual perspective.
Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 20(2), 125-15.
Ruzzier, M., Hisrich, R., & Antoncic, B. (2006).SME internationalization
research: Past, present, and future.Journal of Small Business and Enterprise
Development, 13(4), 476-497.
Tong, C-S. (2006). The opportunity recognition framework of Hong Kong SMEs.
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University,
<http://repository.lib.polyu.edu.hk/jspui/handle/10397/1058>.
Guest Editors
Please send papers to one of the Guest Editors:
Professor Jai-beom Kim (
caifave@gmail.com)
Dr. Wilson Ng (
WilsonIng@aol.com)
Professor Alison Rieple (
ali.rieple@gmail.com)
Please direct informal inquiries to Prof. Alison Rieple.
Submission and informal enquiries
Full papers should be submitted as e-mail attachments (preferably in MS
Word) by 1st September 2012. Papers should normally be between 5000 and
8000 words in length.
Please ensure that you follow the IEMJ house style, as outlined at
http://www.springer.com/business+%26+management/entrepreneurship/journal/113
65
NB. Papers should not be submitted through the Springer online system but
sent direct to one of the guest editors