Start-ups,entrepreneurial networks and equity crowdfunding: A processual perspective

This paper outlines findings from a large-scale interview based study of start-ups who obtained equity crowdfunding in the UK. It takes a novel integrative approach towards the analysis of entrepreneurial networks by examining both personal and business networks involved in the equity crowdfunding process. Adopting a processual perspective, the empirical findings show that networks and social capital play a critical role in the crowdfunding process. Start-ups leverage, build and draw upon a complex array of network actors and “ties” as they move through the different stages of their crowdfunding journey. The paper shows that this form of funding confers important relational benefits to recipients which amount to “more than money”. It concludes that equity crowdfunding is a highly “relational” form of entrepreneurial finance, requiring holistic forms of empirical investigation. Implications for theoretical development, managerial practice and further research are outlined.     

创业成长中双重网络嵌入的演化规律研究——以正泰集团和温氏集团为例

新企业在创建、存活和成长过程中,需要通过嵌入社会关系网络获得资源支持,嵌入产业网络获得产业链分工协作收益。创业网络是社会网络和产业网络的有机统一体,创业成长过程同时也是对社会网络与产业网络双重嵌入的过程。基于创业网络中信任关系从情感性信任到认知性信任再到复合信任的演进,新创企业的双重网络嵌入性关系演化呈现出以下规律性:一是由社会网络嵌入向社会网络和产业网络双重嵌入演化;二是由"交易性嵌入"方式向"关系性嵌入"方式演化;三是由双重网络分离式嵌入向叠加式嵌入演化。新创企业双重网络嵌入演化对创业成长有促进作用,但同时也会形成"创业网络经营成本",政府需要对此加以重视。     

Structural vs. relational embeddedness: social capital and managerial performance

This paper examines the impact of managers' social capital on managerial performance. Two dimensions of social capital are compared—the structural embeddedness (i.e., configuration) of a manager's network of work relations and the relational embeddedness (i.e., quality) of those relations. Based on a sample of 120 product and sales managers in a Fortune 100 pharmaceutical firm, this paper presents evidence indicating that both elements of social capital influence managerial performance, although in distinct ways: structural embeddedness plays a stronger role in explaining more routine, execution‐oriented tasks (managerial sales performance), whereas relational embeddedness plays a stronger role in explaining new, innovation‐oriented tasks (managerial performance in product and process innovation). This research considers resource exchanges within firms as key to value creating behaviors and contributes a deeper understanding of how social capital influences productive resource exchanges. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The strategic impetus for social network ties: reconstituting broken ceo friendship ties

Research on organization–environment relations has focused primarily on formal linkages between organizations such as board interlock ties as a strategy for managing resource dependence. This study examines whether top corporate executives may maintain more informal ties to executives of other firms in order to manage uncertainty arising from resource dependence. Our point of departure is prior research on boards of directors that has examined whether so‐called ‘broken board ties’ (i.e., ties that are disrupted due to executive turnover) tend to be reconstituted, and whether resource dependence explains the likelihood of reconstitution. These studies have generally provided little evidence that corporate board ties are used to manage resource dependence. We draw from theory and research on social embeddedness and friendship to suggest that, as a strategy for managing dependence, the maintenance of friendship ties between top executives provides benefits that are comparable to the supposed benefits of board cooptation, while imposing fewer constraints on the organization. Our theory leads to the contention that, despite limited prior evidence that resource dependence determines the formation of formal board ties, corporate leaders may nevertheless reconstitute informal (i.e., friendship) ties to leaders of other firms that have the power to constrain their firms' access to needed resources when those ties have been disrupted (e.g., due to turnover of the CEO's friend). We test our hypotheses with a unique dataset that includes survey data from U.S. corporate leaders collected at two points in time, thus permitting an assessment of whether top executives reconstitute broken social ties to leaders of other firms, and whether various sources of resource dependence predict the likelihood of reconstitution. We discuss implications for strategic perspectives on inter‐organizational relations and the sociological literature on embeddedness. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Managerial social capital,strategic orientation,and organizational performance in an emerging economy

This study replicates and extends previous research focusing on China, to a sub‐Saharan African emerging economy environment. Specifically, the study directly replicates the impact of social capital derived from the micro‐managerial networking relationships and ties with top managers at other firms and government officials on macro‐organizational performance using data from Ghana. This study further extends previous work by examining the impact of social capital derived from managerial social networking relationships and ties with community leaders on organizational performance. It examines how the relationship between social capital and organizational performance is contingent on an organization's competitive strategic orientation. The findings suggest that social capital developed from managerial networking and social relationships with top managers at other firms, government officials (political leaders and bureaucratic officials), and community leadership enhance organizational performance. The findings from the contingency analyses reveal some interesting trends. The impact of social capital on organizational performance differs between firms that pursue the different competitive strategies (low‐cost, differentiation, and combination of low‐cost and differentiation) and those who do not pursue those strategies. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Selecting Influential Business-to-Business Customers in New Product Development: Relational Embeddedness and Knowledge Heterogeneity Considerations

This study examines how the most influential business‐to‐business (B2B) customers, both existing and potential, involved in providing input to a new product development (NPD) project influence new product advantage. As the relational literature suggests, involving customers who have had close and embedded relationships with a firm's new product organization, such as a firm's largest customers, and customers who have been involved in past collaborative activities, should lead to the development of superior products. To the contrary, the innovation literature suggests that a firm may become too close to its large, embedded customers resulting in less innovation and in lower performing products. Also, the relationship between the heterogeneity of the knowledge of the most influential customers and new product advantage is examined. A contingency perspective is hypothesized such that the degree of product newness sought in the project moderates the effects of both relational embeddedness and knowledge heterogeneity on new product advantage. Empirical findings from a sample of 137 NPD projects support this contingency view. For projects seeking to develop incremental products, where the product being developed is an extension or an enhancement to an existing product, new product advantage tended to be higher in projects using embedded or homogeneous customers. For incremental projects, projects using less‐embedded or heterogeneous customers tended to have lower product performance. For projects following a highly innovative product strategy, new product advantage tended to be higher in projects that involved heterogeneous customers. These heterogeneous customers provided NPD projects with a diversity of perspectives, competencies, and experiences that fostered significant product innovations. The study contributes to the literature by empirically testing relational and innovation theories in NPD projects and by providing evidence on the importance of relational embeddedness and knowledge heterogeneity in selecting influential customers in NPD projects.     

The Importance of Social Capital to the Management of Multinational Enterprises: Relational Networks Among Asian and Western Firms

Social capital is an important concept for multinational firms. Firms operating in global markets rarely have adequate resources to compete effectively in global markets; they access the needed resources through formal and informal relationships with other firms. The cultures in Asian countries have emphasized relationships much more strongly than Western firms. Thus, relational capital, based on guanxi (China), kankei (Japan) and inmak (Korea), provides the framework for business dealings in many Asian countries. As a result, the social capital of many Asian firms gives them a potential competitive advantage in global markets. Western firms must develop social capital and learn to manage relational networks to gain and sustain a competitive advantage in global markets. Western firms can learn how to develop and manage social capital from Asian firms. Alternatively, social capital has some disadvantages. Firms are limited by their networks and thus experience opportunity costs and path dependence. Additionally, while Asian firms often have strong network ties in their domestic markets, they have to develop many more ties globally to operate effectively in global markets. As a result, the development and management of social capital has become of critical importance for competitive advantage in global markets.     

Top Management Compositional Effects on Corporate Entrepreneurship: The Moderating Role of Perceived Technological Uncertainty

Because corporate entrepreneurship (CE) is central to firms' ability to compete, adapt, and perform in increasingly turbulent environments, there is a great interest in understanding its origins. To date, prior studies have overwhelmingly focused on the architectural factors—the structures, cultures, resources, and incentives—that shape entrepreneurial processes within organizations and the environmental conditions that stimulate entrepreneurial activity. However, some researchers have recently begun to argue that the requirements and challenges of CE fall most saliently on the shoulders of the firm's top management team. Focusing on various aspects of top managers' activities, roles, and processes, this line of research demonstrates the enabling role of top management teams in their firm's pursuit of CE. We extend this research by examining the impact of top management team composition in terms of human capital and social capital on CE. Additionally, because external environment perceptions within top teams shape their sociopolitical process and framing of the issues facing their firms, we submit that a team's level of perceived technological uncertainty moderates the impact of the team's human and social capital on CE. We find support for these arguments using multisource data from a sample of 99 high‐technology firms. The discussion finally traces the implications of our theory and findings for research and managerial understanding on CE.     

A Closer Look at Cross‐Functional Collaboration and Product Innovativeness: Contingency Effects of Structural and Relational Context

This study applies a contingency perspective to examine how the intra‐organizational context influences the relationship between cross‐functional collaboration and product innovativeness. It focuses on the role of (1) formal, structural factors directly controllable by top management decisions and (2) more intangible, relational factors as potential enhancements of the firm's ability to convert cross‐functional collaboration into product innovativeness. A study of 232 firms confirms the hypotheses, finding that the relationship between cross‐functional collaboration and product innovativeness is stronger for higher levels of decision autonomy and shared responsibility (structural context) and social interaction, trust, and goal congruence (relational context). In addition, a post‐hoc analysis using a configurational approach to organizational contingencies reveals that organizations' relational context is more potent than their structural context for converting cross‐functional collaboration into product innovativeness. The study's implications and future research directions are discussed.     

Sources of alliance partner trustworthiness: Integrating calculative and relational perspectives

Research on the sources of organizational trustworthiness remains bifurcated. Some scholars have adopted a calculative perspective, stressing the primacy of actors' rational calculations, while others have approached trustworthiness from a relational perspective, focusing on its social underpinnings. We help to reconcile these seemingly disparate views by adopting an integrative approach that allows us to clarify the boundaries of both perspectives. Based on dyadic survey data from 171 strategic alliances, we find that the calculative perspective (represented by contractual safeguards) has higher predictive power when the partner lacks a favorable reputation. In contrast, the relational perspective (represented by organizational culture) predicts trustworthiness more strongly when familiarity with the partner organization is high. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Relationship marketing in Guanxi networks: A social network analysis study of Chinese construction small and medium-sized enterprises

Despite the significance of Guanxi networking as the integrated approach to relationship marketing in the Chinese business environment, there remains, however, a limited understanding of the structural and relational characteristics of these stakeholder networks, within which value is jointly created and shared. In this study, the value-adding ego-networks of the business owners in four Chinese construction small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are examined. The relationship between the business owner and six main stakeholder groups was identified, quantified, analyzed, and visualized using SNA. Relationships were measured according to the frequency of communication, the value of favour exchanges, and the amount of emotional investment in the relationship. Comparative SNA studies were conducted, focusing on ego-network density, tie strength, and prominence of key stakeholders. The findings highlighted the high degree of the structural and relational embeddedness in Chinese SMEs with Guanxi ties (both strong and weak) dominating the construction business-owners' network. They also underlined the prominence of the internal markets of multiskilled employees and business-development managers. Transactional ties, albeit a minority, also exist in the business-owners' network, which confirms that both relational and transactional marketing coexist in the Chinese construction industry. The study draws managerial implications for entrepreneurial business owners and managers, and proposes directions for future research.     

When do formal control and trust matter? A context-based analysis of the effects on marketing channel relationships in China

Formal control and trust are two typical governance mechanisms employed to safeguard business transactions. Yet the effectiveness of each mechanism for firm relationship outcomes remains unclear. Some relevant literature suggests that formal control and trust simultaneously can help secure transactions, whereas other research argues the two control mechanisms can substitute for each other. This study applies social embeddedness theory and differentiates strong tie from weak tie relationships. In so doing, it reveals the role of strong versus weak social ties in leading to parallel conclusions about the relationship between formal control and trust and their effects on relationship outcomes. On the basis of empirical tests in a Chinese marketing channels context, this study finds that the joint effects of formal control and trust on governing transactions depends on the relational tie that the focal partners share. Specifically, formal control and trust complement each other only in weak tie relations. On the basis of this new perspective, the authors offer theoretical and managerial implications for managing interfirm governance mechanisms in transitional economies such as China.     

Social capital and creativity in R&D project teams

The existing research contributes to our understanding about the value of social capital in a wide range of social science disciplines; however, it does not well address the role of social capital in creativity for research and development (R&D) project teams in a given context. Using a sample of 54 R&D project teams in high-technology firms of Taiwan, we examined the impacts of social capital on creativity of R&D project teams from an intra-team perspective. Results of factor analysis revealed four factors extracted from the concept of social capital, namely social interaction, network ties, mutual trust, and shared goals. Findings suggested that social interaction and network ties had significant and positive impacts on creativity of R&D project teams, but mutual trust and shared goals did not. Managerial implications for managing social capital in R&D project teams are discussed.     

Research opportunities in the study of B2B new ventures: Perspectives from the entrepreneurship literature

The goal of this article is to identify research opportunities for scholars interested in B2B new ventures. The author focuses on opportunities that arise from a consideration of three important topics in the entrepreneurship literature: business model development, venture legitimacy, and top management teams. It is argued that significant opportunities exist for research that expands our understanding of (1) entrepreneurial paths from initial means to a fully specified business model, (2) the design of a portfolio of legitimation strategies, and (3) the impact of top management team characteristics and processes on venture characteristics, venture performance, and top management team outcomes.     

Factors influencing strategic alliance outcomes in a manufacturing supply chain: Role of alliance motives,interdependence, asset specificity and relational capital

Integration of various theories is essential to completely understand and explain strategic alliances in a supply chain. The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework by integrating the features of transaction cost theory, resource-based theory, contingency theory, social exchange theory, and Kelley's personal relationship theory and test the framework through empirical research. The present study addresses the impact of strategic alliance motives, environment, asset specificity, perception of opportunistic behavior, interdependence between supply chain partners, and relational capital on strategic alliance outcomes. Besides, the study has also tested the role of relational capital as a central mediating construct. A sample of 2156 companies representing different industries in manufacturing in Malaysia was selected for the distribution of questionnaire. We tested the structural model using structural equation modeling (SEM). Based on the results, we conclude the following significant relationships: (1) strategic alliance motives and perception of opportunistic behavior on interdependence and relational capital, (2) interdependence on relational capital, (3) environment on strategic alliance motives, (4) relational capital on strategic alliance outcomes, and (4) the mediating role of relational capital. The current study adds significantly to the body of knowledge on strategic alliances and can help managers identify factors that influence the success of strategic alliances and provide a proper direction to develop robust and effective collaborative relationships between supply chain partners.     

Outsourcers’ control mechanisms,vendors’ contract schemas,and project performance in cross-border IT outsourcing: A vendor’s perspective

Relational conflicts are likely to occur in cross-border IT outsourcing between partners with different cultural backgrounds. Extant literature diverges on the role of contract and trust as control mechanisms in managing relational conflicts. Prior studies have examined the effectiveness of the control mechanisms primarily from the outsourcer’s perspective, with little consideration of how vendors interpret outsourcers’ control mechanisms. Based on psychological contract theory, this study addresses the effects of contract-based and trust-based control mechanisms on relational conflicts from the vendor’s perspective and further explores the contingency of the effects on vendors’ psychological contract schemas (transactional contract schema and relational contract schema) towards their relationships with outsourcers. Based on survey data from 180 offshore outsourcing IT projects, the results show that vendors’ transactional contract schema reduces the effect of trust-based control whereas vendors’ relational contract schema strengthens the effect of outsourcers’ contract-based control on relational conflict. Relational conflicts, in turn, exhibit a negative impact on project performance. The findings offer new insights into the role of outsourcers’ contract-based control and trust-based controls in relationship management from a vender’s perspective. The findings also extend the outsourcing governance literature by illustrating the contingency of the control mechanisms on vendors’ psychological contract schemas.     

企业的嵌入性研究述评

此文回顾了嵌入性内涵及其维度认知的3个视角--经典、虚联系和网络视角。同时发现一般企业、初创企业和跨国企业的嵌入性研究使用的维度视角存在差别。通常意义上的一般企业研究经常运用经典视角和虚联系视角，初创企业研究则多运用经典视角，而跨国企业更倾向于网络视角。在此基础上本文探讨了企业嵌入性研究的未来空间。     

Social capital in the growth of science-and-technology-based SMEs

There is increasing evidence of the positive role social capital plays in accessing resources and capabilities from and with other actors, and in establishing and maintaining business relationships. Yet, surprisingly little is known about how an organization's social capital and its utilization evolve over time. Focusing on this gap, this paper explores the role of social capital and its structural, relational and cognitive dimensions in the growth of science-and-technology-based SMEs. On the basis of our studies on social capital, entrepreneurial networks and SME growth, we develop a conceptual framework to describe their development through four overlapping phases, each of which involves different managerial tasks: innovation assessment, offering development, commercialization and rapid growth. The results of our longitudinal multiple case studies show that; (i) different types of networks and relationships are important in the transitional periods between the growth phases; and (ii) the role of social capital and its different dimensions varies in developing, maintaining and utilizing these partnerships and network relationships. These findings offer several managerial implications.     

Promoting innovation through the accumulation of intellectual capital, social capital, and entrepreneurial orientation

This study attempts to explore how a firm's operational mode can reinforce the advantages of intellectual capital on innovation. Specifically, the main purpose of this study is to develop a comprehensive research model to integrate the interrelationships among social capital, entrepreneurial orientation, intellectual capital, and innovation. In addition to identifying the influences of intellectual capital on innovation, this study focuses in particular on the mediating effect of intellectual capital and the moderating effects of social capital and entrepreneurial orientation on innovation, which have largely been neglected in previous literature. The results support the mediating role of intellectual capital and the moderating roles of entrepreneurial orientation and social capital on innovation. Specifically, firms that have higher levels of social capital and entrepreneurial orientation tend to amplify the effects of intellectual capital on innovation.     

企业社会资本与技术创新：基于吸收能力的实证研究

本文针对我国企业社会资本影响技术创新的机制问题展开分析,从企业社会资本的特征维度出发,引入吸收能力的视角,提出了基于吸收能力的企业社会资本与技术创新绩效的概念模型。在问卷调查的基础上,通过多元线性回归分析和结构方程模型分析,对我国企业社会资本如何影响技术创新的问题进行了实证研究。研究结果表明,在不考虑吸收能力作用的情况下,企业社会资本的结构、关系和认知等三个维度的水平对于我国企业技术创新绩效的提升均具有积极显著的作用;企业社会资本三个特征维度的水平通过提高吸收能力进而正向影响技术创新绩效;其中,认知维度在结构维度和关系维度发挥效应中承担中介变量的作用。为提高企业技术创新绩效,建议以知识的获取和利用为导向,注重企业社会资本三个维度水平的均衡提高。