Benefiting from network position: firm capabilities,structural holes,and performance

While strategy scholars primarily focus on internal firm capabilities and network scholars typically examine network structure, we posit that firms with superior network structures may be better able to exploit their internal capabilities and thus enhance their performance. We examine how innovative capabilities—both those of focal firms and those they access through their networks—influence the performance of Canadian mutual fund companies. We find that a firm's innovative capabilities and its network structure both enhance firm performance, while the innovativeness of its contacts does not do so directly. Innovative firms that also bridge structural holes get a further performance boost, suggesting that firms need to develop network‐enabled capabilities—capabilities accruing to innovative firms that bridge structural holes. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Social networks in the global banking sector

We show that banks with shared social connections partner more often in the global syndicated loan market and that central banks in the network play dominant roles in various interbank transactions, indicating that social connections facilitate business connections. However, more centralized banks in the network also contribute significantly to the global systemic risk. Moreover, we find the soft information generated by social networks is particularly valuable when potential partners operate under different accounting and regulatory standards. Finally, we show that the recent banking crisis significantly limited the positive soft information effects of social networks in the global banking system.     

三网合一背景下农田水利工程可持续运行管理机制研究

2011年中央一号文件针对我国农田水利等基础设施十分薄弱的实际情况,提出了要突出加强农田水利等薄弱环节建设的重要措施。文章通过采用到有关市(县)进行实地查勘、问卷调查、走访农户、搜集数据和逻辑分析等方法,针对农田水利工程管理机制与考核历史沿革、现状、存在问题及成因进行实地调研,提出了三网合一背景下农田水利工程可持续运行管理机制主要通过内生性,"类生命体"式的方式发展。     

社会网络和同伴效应视角下农户农业绿色技术采用研究综述

[目的]农业绿色技术的推广和应用有助于促进农业集约经营、实现农业生态良性循环、推动农业由“量”到“质”转变。文章旨在对社会网络、同伴效应与农户技术采用之间关系进行系统阐述与分析,发现现有研究不足,提出进一步研究方向。[方法]采用文献研究法和总结归纳法,以社会网络、同伴效应与农户技术采用之间关系研究的主要内容为主线,从农业技术采用、社会网络与农户技术采用、个体行为与同伴效应识别、同伴效应形成机制四个方面对现有研究进行梳理、概括和评价。[结果]目前政府和学界对农户绿色技术采用行为展开了大量研究,但大多强调农户自身特征或决策对绿色技术采用行为的影响,在很大程度上忽略了社会网络,以及同伴效应对农户绿色技术采用所起的作用。[结论]未来应深化社会网络、同伴效应对农户技术采用的影响机制的定量及动态研究;应进一步探索社会网络和同伴效应的“中国特色”;应丰富和改进研究方法和实验技术。     

利用供销社现存网络构建农村新型物流系统

尽管目前供销社的经营网点减少,经营业务缩简,但在组织架构、物资设备、服务体系和人才网络等方面的优势依然存在。充分利用供销社现存的网络,挖掘其网络潜力,对构建农村新型物流系统,拓展物流新功能,促进新农村经济建设具有重大的作用。     

网络、资源与竞争优势:一个企业社会学视角下的观点

资源一直是企业获取竞争优势的主要战略因素。本文以“传统资源”为研究起点，刻画了企业行为的社会嵌入性特征，并通过引入“网络资源”这一概念揭示出一个更加全面、以企业网络及其关系资本为背景的资源分析框架，完善地拓展了传统的资源基础论观点。     

Free‐riding in multi‐party alliances: The role of perceived alliance effectiveness and peers' collaboration in a research consortium

Research summary : Multi‐party alliances rely on partners' willingness to commit and pool their efforts in joint endeavors. However, partners face the dilemma of how much to commit to the alliance. We shed light on this issue by analyzing the relationship between partners' free‐riding—defined as their effort‐withholding—and their perceptions of alliance effectiveness and peers' collaboration. Specifically, we posit a U‐shaped relationship between partners' subjective evaluations of alliance effectiveness and their free‐riding. We also hypothesize a negative relation between partners' perceptions of the collaboration of peer organizations and their free‐riding. Results from a mixed‐method study—combining regression analysis of primary data on a major inter‐organizational research consortium and evidence from two experimental designs—support our hypotheses, bearing implications for the multi‐party alliances literature. Managerial summary : Free‐riding is a major concern in multi‐party alliances such as large research consortia, since the performance of these governance forms hinges on the joint contribution of multiple partners that often operate according to different logics (e.g., universities, firms, and government agencies). We show that, in such alliances, partners' perceptions have relevant implications for their willingness to contribute to the consortium's shared goals. Specifically, we find that partners free‐ride more—that is, contribute less—when they perceive the effectiveness of the overall alliance to be either very low or very high. Partners also gauge their commitment to the alliance on the perception of the effort of their peers—that is, other organizations similar to them. These findings provide managers of multi‐party alliances with additional levers to motivate partners to contribute fairly to such joint endeavor. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A study on the deployment of high-speed broadband networks in NUTS3 regions within the framework of digital agenda for Europe

This paper investigates the high-speed broadband situation in the EU and its prospects. It uses a deployment model to estimate the investment required to meet the Digital Agenda for Europe (DAE) broadband targets set by the European Commission in its Europe 2020 strategy at different stages: as of 2016, after expected operators’ deployment, after public subsidies and leveraged investment, and as expected in 2020. The model uses data at the NUTS3 level, which is the most granular level that has data available on the status of broadband deployment, to arrive at a coherent and comparable framework. From the different perspectives on the investment to meet DAE targets, the paper concludes on the need for an appropriate combination of incumbent and alternative operators investments, public subsidies and leveraged investments, and new investments, both public and private and non-existing as of 2016, examining their feasibility and the impact of different regulatory, technical, and policy strategies.     

40 years on: An account of innovation in the regulation of UK telecommunications,in 3½ chapters

The past nearly 40 years have seen major developments in telecommunications networks and services, and in how they are regulated. This paper describes innovations in UK telecommunications regulation which have taken place over the period, broken down into stages, beginning with the regulation of the former monopolist by an independent regulator under a price cap, continuing the regulation first of mobile and then, under European Directives, of copper-based broadband, and ending with the diffusion of fibre networks. It is argued that a variety of changes have reduced the scope of innovation over the period, including domestic institutional reform, the limits placed on later decisions by earlier ones (path dependency), and the constraining impact of European Union law and regulation. The paper concludes with some consideration of the effects on future innovation of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.     

Why can collective action fail in Local Agri-food Systems? A social network analysis of cheese producers in Aculco,Mexico

Collective trademark and regional product qualification in food-processing industries have become a growing challenge for farmers in developing countries. This challenge is the target of collective action-based programs aiming at framing the cooperation context that would enable a local community to turn inherited resources and know-how into new market opportunities. Literature acknowledges that social capital is a crucial local resource for successful collective actions since it is a source of trust and collective commitment within a community. This paper deals with testing the role of this resource in the collective action case of the cheese producers in Aculco (Mexico). Focusing on the connectedness dimension of social capital, we propose an original methodology that relies on the multiplex and structural properties of social networks. This allows us to disentangle the opposite and ambivalent effects of social capital on the ability of a community to reach the goals assigned by the collective action program. Our empirical study shows that these critical properties can work in favor of adherence to collective action but can also create elite capture, clannish behaviors and entry barriers, thus showing a failure of collective action.