Antecedents of trust in industrial districts: an empirical analysis of inter-firm relations in a Turkish industrial district

Structural features and institutional settings of industrial districts, rather than contracts as a co-coordinating mechanism, promote trust in exchanges between firms in industrial districts. Based on this assumption, the paper explores the antecedents of trust in a Turkish industrial district at three levels: institutional environment; institutional arrangements; and inter-firm exchanges. In relation to institutional environment, dominant institutions of the Turkish economy – mainly state and finance – and their policies that undermine the role of SMEs in economic development are studied. In this context a third institution, the ‘district association’ that has a vital role in promoting trust-based governance has been analysed. At the second level, formal and informal institutional arrangements that govern the web of exchanges between firms are surveyed. The third level of analysis is directed at entrepreneurs and their attitudes towards family, friendship, expertise and reputation are studied. The research site is the Merter textile district in Istanbul. Data for second and third levels of analysis has been collected through structured interviews and is analysed quantitatively. For institutions and institutional environment, data has been collected mainly by in-depth interviews and is supported by secondary data. Research findings show that informal institutional arrangements are more important than formal arrangements and reputation and expertise of the other firm is more important than family-friendship connections as antecedents of trust.     

Planning and Uncovering Industrial Symbiosis: Comparing the Rotterdam and Östergötland regions

Industrial ecology is defined as the study of material and energy flows through industrial systems and as such may focus on a geographic area, resource and/or industry sector. In these types of setting, industrial ecology is also often known as industrial symbiosis (IS). The proximity of companies in industrial estates facilitates the linking of utilities and the exchange of wastes and by‐products, which may eventually be useful inputs for adjacent industrial processes. The typical model that has been applied in several regions of the world is one where an anchor‐tenant organization with energy and by‐product linkages is connected to companies physically located nearby. In the case of biomass symbiosis, however, the resource chains are not explicitly arranged by their industrial setting and the supply of waste and by‐products is able to be organized in a more scattered way. In this article, the role of industrial symbiosis is analyzed in respect of the planned industrial symbiosis activities in the Rotterdam Harbour and Industry Complex in the Netherlands and in the application of renewable energy in the Östergötland region in Sweden. The objective of this article is to discuss the similarities and differences between the planned industrial symbiosis activities in Rotterdam and the unplanned biomass and industrial symbiosis activities in the Östergötland region. By presenting this knowledge in this article, it is anticipated that further development of industrial symbiosis application processes may be achieved. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Managing Performance Expectations of Industrial Symbiosis

Firms collaborate on environmental management issues for number of reasons, including cost reduction, risk sharing and managing competition. Industrial symbiosis represents a voluntary collaborative approach among firms in geographic proximity. Companies participating in industrial symbiosis have been found to improve their individual economic and environmental performance, while the regions where they are located are thought to benefit through enhanced environmental quality. However, too few studies have actually investigated whether this is always the case. This paper considers a single case on the island of Puerto Rico, where several firms in a predominantly pharmaceutical manufacturing cluster participated in symbiosis initiatives for several decades. It examines whether early stage symbiotic activities, specifically a shared utility, met technical performance and community expectations for improved environmental quality. Results suggest that collaboration does not necessarily lead to expected environmental performance goals. The paper details the circumstances that led to under‐performance of the initiative and the lessons for symbiosis projects in general. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

The structural,social, and strategic factors associated with successful business networks

Business networks, formal arrangements between independent businesses established to enhance member success, are generally accepted as an important strategy to help small businesses survive and prosper, and to promote regional economic development. However, knowledge about what contributes to the success of business networks themselves is less extensive and based primarily on case studies or reports of network directors. The purpose of this paper is to partially address this shortcoming. We consider the structural and social features identified in previous studies as likely correlates of business network success. Using a social constructionist definition of network success, we distinguish successful from less successful networks from among a sample of 29 industry and community business networks in the USA. Findings from interviews with 1122 members and 29 network leaders suggest that trust is central to understanding network success. Structural features have complex positive and negative indirect effects on success through trust and resource exchanges. The findings highlight the fact that business networks, while offering great potential as a way to enhance economic vitality of regions and industries, cannot be viewed as a simple remedy.     

Pitfalls and Challenges for Trust and Effectiveness in Collaborative Networks

Abstract

Collaborative networks in the public and non-profit sector face challenges that are typical for their institutional context. The typical characteristics that might impede the functioning of networks and, in particular, the development of trust and network effectiveness, are related to type of instigation, network flexibility, and power in the form of unbalanced influence and the vertical character of networks. In a sample of 52 networks, the effects of network flexibility, mandatory and vertical networks, and influence on trust and network effectiveness were studied. Findings indicated that particularly flexibility in networks was important and that cognition-based trust played a central role in obtaining effective networks.     

Community-based research: Engaging universities in technology-related knowledge exchanges

Many universities are disengaged from their local regions. While universities are hotbeds of knowledge with the potential to generate new and disruptive technologies, their development strategies and public relations engagements rarely emphasize the potential of universities to act as local and regional economic engines. Similarly, information systems (IS) and other scholars generally aim to make international, not local impacts. Local contributions are often viewed as distractions from more visible and highly rewarded roles in the global scholarly community, such as publishing in international journals. This Global Challenge article argues that universities' local ecosystems are appropriate targets for IS scholarly activity, particularly when this is undertaken in the form of community-based research (CBR). Following conceptual discussions of ‘community’ and key elements of CBR, we draw on the authors' personal research experiences to evaluate the potential contributions of IS scholars in terms of CBR projects focused on technology-related knowledge exchange. After outlining implications and potential future directions for IS researchers, we close by presenting a call to IS scholars to intensify their local ecosystem research collaborations in technology-related knowledge exchanges contexts, in order to increase the relevance and local impact of their research.     

Trust,Social Networks and Enterprise Development: Exploring Evidence from East and West Germany

This paper examines the role of social networks in enterprise development by comparing personal trust (as inherent in social relationships) to collective and institutional trust (derived from the wider cultural, political and legal environment). The findings indicate that there is a shift from personal towards institutional trust as the firm develops and grows, but they also confirm enterprise behaviour being based on a mixture of different trust forms. Moreover, the findings underline the difficulty of studying trust empirically, recommending longitudinal qualitative approaches for further research.     

With Friends Like These: Endogenous Labor Market Segregation with Homogeneous, Nonprejudiced Agents

In the economics literature, labor market segregation is typically assumed to arise either from prejudice ( Becker 1971 ) or from group differences in human capital accumulation ( Benabou 1993 ; Durlauf 2006 ; Fryer 2006 ). Many sociological studies, by contrast, consider social network structure as an embodiment of various forms of social capital, including the creation of obligations, information channels, and enforceable trust ( Coleman 1988 ; Portes and Sensenbrenner 1993 ). When firms hire by referral, social network segregation can lead to labor market segregation ( Tilly 1998 ). Various social network structures may arise from the actions of self-interested individuals ( Watts and Strogatz 1998 ; Jackson 2006 ); by incorporating concepts of social capital into an economic framework of profit-maximizing firms, this article develops a model of labor markets in which segregation arises endogenously even though agents are homogeneous and have no dislike for each other. Firms hire through referrals, and can enforce discipline by bribing a referrer to prevent a hiree from getting any outside job offers from other friends if he or she shirks. This is possible only if social networks are reasonably closed, so that the referee knows a majority of his or her friends' friends. By segregating into small communities, workers can more effectively create closed social networks. Social networks with different reservation wages will receive different wages; firms can induce such segregation and wage discrimination in the interest of profit. Workers may not benefit from such segregation, except as a best response to being in a society where it already exists; the "friends" in these social networks act as a worker discipline device, and in this way treat each other inimically.     

Social Networks and Business Success

A bstract .   The main objective of this paper is to illuminate social and cultural preconditions for networking and success in business in an African context. By in-depth studies of small-scale entrepreneurs in the wood business in Tanzania, we find that people belonging to an Asian subculture probably have a better standing for entering and thriving in business, due to group cohesion, mobility, and level of education. Through high-quality social networks, characterized by a high number and variety of relations, certain groups seem to be in a better position to enact their business environment and raise entrepreneurial resources such as motivation and ideas, information, capital, and trust. To reduce social discontent and inter-ethnic and religious conflicts in this area, we suggest that policy measures be taken to enhance levels of education and access to information for all citizens to create a "level playing field" in economic affairs.     

The Governance of Networks and Economic Power: The Nature and Impact of Subcontracting Relationships

Abstract.  Current debate on networking focuses on network structures and firm strategies. In this perspective, theoretical analysis has been concerned with allocative issues. This essay proposes a different interpretation. Starting from the existing theoretical framework, we emphasise the nature and the implications of different types of networks with respect to socio‐economic development from a distributional point of view. Within this context, we develop the analysis of subcontracting starting from the concept of economic power. We then provide an analysis of governance in production by considering the attitudes and the nature of the actors involved. The externalisation of activities by large transnationals, which characterises current corporate restructuring, is often related to the search for greater flexibility, but also for greater power over governments, labour, and subcontractors. Differently, networks based on the mutual dependence of actors, which are not necessarily built around a large firm, could – under particular conditions – reach large production scales or more complex scopes without breaking the links with territorial systems, thus including local objectives in the strategic decision‐making process. Our conclusion is that the impact of subcontracting networks varies enormously. This is crucial to an understanding of future trends and possibilities. Not least, firms and public policy agencies need to understand the implications of different forms of subcontracting network and how those forms actually differ in practice.     

甘肃省产业结构与经济增长关系的实证研究

利用偏离—份额分析法,选取2003-2007年甘肃省的各个地区生产总值作为原始数据,分析甘肃省经济增长与产业结构因素之间的关系。分析得出甘肃省14个地区的生产总值都有一定程度的增长,但是地区之间经济发展还是存在着差距。各地区产业结构对整体经济增长的贡献不同,主要是第二产业对经济增长的贡献最大,而第一、三产业对经济增长的贡献较少。研究结论为各地区产业结构调整,缩小地区差距,促进经济持续、协调、快速发展提供一定的借鉴,并为建立健全甘肃省经济增长与产业结构提供参照依据。     

创业团队成员信任对社会网络与企业创新能力关系的影响

本文通过对吉林省112家有效样本企业进行调查,将社会网络细分为内部社会网络和外部社会网络,在创业团队的定义下检验了社会网络与信任对新创企业创新能力的影响。研究结果表明,内外部社会网络都会对企业创新能力产生积极影响,而团队成员之间的信任则作为调节变量影响两者之间的关系。创业团队成员之间的信任越高,越有利于知识、信息的传播与交流,内部社会网络对企业创新能力的积极影响越大;但却易产生"非我发明症"现象,导致外部社会网络对企业创新能力的积极影响越小。     

Measuring Embeddedness and Its Effect on New Venture Creation—A Study of Farm Diversification

Social embeddedness has been found to influence the development of new ventures, providing a basis for the trust needed for economic exchange. This study takes a novel approach to measuring embeddedness, focusing on entrepreneurs' perceived value of advice from various network partners, and shows that different types of partners exercise different influences. Analysis of a survey of 670 farm businesses shows varied embeddedness in professional and social networks, where stronger embeddedness in social networks is more associated with the development of diversified enterprises, whereas stronger professional networks is more associated with a lower incidence of such development. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

构建新型工业经济体系

自中国加入世界贸易组织以来,我国的工业体系将进行全面的改革,主要向高经济收入、跨越式发展的方向迈进,把工业生产产业结构进行改革和完善,使工业经济快速的得到增长,把与国际企业进行合作的项目作为经济发展的载体,把各个方面的大集团大企业作为工业经济发展的中间力量,重新进行科学的规划建设、合理的布局和推进,构建新型工业经济体系。     

Social Networks and Economic Sociology

A bstract The social network metaphor is widely used by sociologists to study socioeconomic behavior and processes The use of social networks generally takes place within the ranks of sociology However, a more complete social science would result by combining work being done on social networks within sociology with mainline economic theory The insights from such a research agenda will help us better understand socioeconomic behavior With this in mind, the main objective of this paper is to demonstrate the utility of the network metaphor to economists This objective will be accomplished through developing four basic components of social networks, and using them to navigate through the existing literature in economic sociology Furthermore, topics for future research in which social networks can provide contributions to the explanation of socioeconomic behavior are explored as well     

Developing a framework for network and cluster identification for use in economic development policy-making

Drawing on extensive academic research concerning clusters and networks, this paper seeks to create a framework capable of reviewing and monitoring different aspects of clusters and networks on an ongoing basis. The nine-element framework allows evaluation of the structures and processes for the eight basic cluster types identified from the literature. The use of this framework as a complimentary tool to the Multi-sectoral Qualitative Analysis (MSQA) methodology is then demonstrated using three examples (the construction, hardwood timber and higher education sectors). The data was gathered from three sets of key stakeholders (government, institutions and industry) provided from a recent study funded by the Welsh Assembly Government's Small Grants Research Programme. These cases illustrate the use of the framework in helping to generate the initial information necessary for subsequent cluster development policy (within overall regional economic development) by government to occur. The framework provides tools for reviewing and monitoring individual sectors. Information captured within the framework can also help in ameliorating problems in sectors likely to decline further. The need for further development research is also identified. Specifically at the level of the firm and network, there is a need to generate a more detailed framework of analysis of factors that contribute to successful processes of network management, learning and innovation, from which more detailed policy could be enacted in future.     

The Geometry of Comparative Industrial Relations: Efficiency,Equity and Voice

This article focuses on John Budd’s efficiency, equity and voice concepts. The discussion considers the concepts’ utility as a framework for analyzing different national patterns of industrial relations in a comparative perspective. The article considers eight forms of employment relationships: social partnerships, sectoral bargaining, centralized awards, enterprise unionism, exclusive representation, codetermination, the US new deal system and voluntarism. The author concludes that this is a useful framework for such purposes, and that it is following the industrial relations tradition of pluralism.     

基于产业共生网络的供应链金融结构模式的研究

产业共生网络是由具有关联性的各种类型的企业通过经济、社会和环境各方面的合作而形成的企业与企业间关系的复杂系统,根本目的是提高经济效益、环境效益和社会效益,将生态学的理论应用于产业发展指导是当今产业界的一个重要发展趋势。基于产业共生网络,分析了供应链金融共生网络形成的必要性和可行性,提出供应链金融共生网络的结构模式,并分析该共生网络的效益。     

Networks in family business: a multi-rational approach

Current research on networks in family businesses has approached the topic from a mono-rational perspective where the family, business and social networks are each considered in relative isolation. This paper argues that multi-rational approaches, which accept that the three groups of networks interact and overlap, offer a useful alternative perspective. In proposing the case for multiple rationalities as a framework within which family business networking can be viewed – and in putting forward an initial model – the paper allows the interaction of the different networks within the family business to be more fully acknowledged. Evidence from the literature is presented as a basis for further exploration using empirical approaches and it is emphasised that further and empirical approaches are required.