IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/entreg/v23y2011i3-4p113-133.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

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

Author

Listed:
  • Terry L. Besser
  • Nancy Miller

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Terry L. Besser & Nancy Miller, 2011. "The structural, social, and strategic factors associated with successful business networks," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(3-4), pages 113-133, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:entreg:v:23:y:2011:i:3-4:p:113-133
    DOI: 10.1080/08985620903183728
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/08985620903183728
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/08985620903183728?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Maura McAdam & Richard T. Harrison & Claire M. Leitch, 2019. "Stories from the field: women’s networking as gender capital in entrepreneurial ecosystems," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 53(2), pages 459-474, August.
    2. Harold Fried & Loren Tauer, 2015. "An entrepreneur performance index," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 69-77, August.
    3. Anna Lašáková & Anna Remišová & Ľubica Bajzíková, 2021. "Differences in Occurrence of Unethical Business Practices in a Post-Transitional Country in the CEE Region: The Case of Slovakia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-33, March.
    4. Christopher Hayter, 2013. "Conceptualizing knowledge-based entrepreneurship networks: perspectives from the literature," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 41(4), pages 899-911, December.
    5. Sleuwaegen, Leo & Boiardi, Priscilla, 2014. "Creativity and regional innovation: Evidence from EU regions," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(9), pages 1508-1522.
    6. D’Arco, Mario & Lo Presti, Letizia & Marino, Vittoria & Maggiore, Giulio, 2021. "Is sustainable tourism a goal that came true? The Italian experience of the Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    7. Eduard Gabriel Ceptureanu & Sebastian Ion Ceptureanu & Violeta Radulescu & Stefan Alexandru Ionescu, 2018. "What Makes Coopetition Successful? An Inter-Organizational Side Analysis on Coopetition Critical Success Factors in Oil and Gas Distribution Networks," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-20, December.
    8. Leszek Sieczko & Anna Justyna Parzonko & Anna Sieczko, 2021. "Trust in Collective Entrepreneurship in the Context of the Development of Rural Areas in Poland," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-26, November.
    9. Adro, Francisco do & Franco, Mário, 2020. "Rural and agri-entrepreneurial networks: A qualitative case study," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:entreg:v:23:y:2011:i:3-4:p:113-133. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/TEPN20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.