Business Networks

W artykule przedstawiono studium przypadku sieci biznesowej, która powstała w celu zorganizowania konferencji międzynarodowej ABSL w 2014 roku w Poznaniu. Celem artykułu jest określenie uczestników sieci, którzy tworzą podstawowy, wzbogacony i poszerzony produkt na rynku turystki biznesowej. Założono, że podstawą do identyfikacji takiej sieci będzie wymiana wiedzy między podmiotami zaangażowanymi w organizację konferencji. W związku z tym w artykule omówiono rolę wymiany wiedzy w kształtowaniu sieci biznesowych, uwarunkowania sieci w przemyśle spotkań, metodykę badań prowadzonych w celu identyfikacji sieci związanej z konferencją ABSL 2014 oraz efekt badań, jakim jest wykaz podmiotów tworzących tę sieć.

This paper examines emergence of international new ventures and their attempts for rapid evolvement of global business activities through examination of three intertwined, network based processes. Specifically we aim to find out how the business of technology-driven international new ventures evolves over the very first years of operation. We build on research of internationalisation strategies of international new ventures, opportunity discovery of entrepreneurs and innovation development in technological firms. The empirical study is a longitudinal single case study on a technology based venture in software business. The primary empirical data consists of several interviews of the entrepreneur and some actors in the networks on which the venture's early evolvement in global markets was based. As an end result of the paper we illustrate the three processes of opportunity discovery, technology development and the development of the firm in international markets as the cornerston...

Strategic business nets are increasingly important in producing economic value in the global arena. This paper examines the influence of national culture on knowledge sharing in different types of intercultural business nets. Knowledge sharing is essential for the functioning of any business network as it influences the interaction between the actors and the outcomes they can achieve. Cultural factors have for long been known to influence the communication and success potential of strategic alliances. Similarly, culture is seen ...

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to comprehensively explore marketing issues for foreign industrial companies of large, small and medium size entering emerging markets (EMs), particularly transition economies in Eastern Europe. The vast majority of current studies about emerging markets focus only on defining suitable strategies related to large consumer goods corporations.

Design/methodology/approach
The research adopted a multiple case study approach. Five Italian companies belonging to different business-to-business industries that have entered emerging countries in Eastern Europe were selected for investigation.

Findings
Empirical analysis uncovered recurring issues related to: institutional factors causing market uncertainty and instability; difficulties in building a sales network; a need for product adaptation to guarantee satisfactory performance; choices related to communication, branding and trade fairs; and considerations about competition and first mover advantage. Results can be interpreted as an extension of the analysis of institutional voids by Khanna and Palepu (1997).

Research limitations/implications
The study is based on the analysis of five case studies of companies operating in specific emerging markets, namely in Eastern Europe Countries (EEc) Further research based on different samples and different emerging countries is needed before generalizing results.

Practical implications
The study shows that the main institutional void affecting business-to-business companies entering emerging markets (EEc) is the lack of locally developed sales and after-sales networks. This institutional void slows the entry process of business-to-business companies in EMs. Given these constraints, from the perspective of business-to-business SMEs, it may be fruitful to pursue niche positioning in EMs.

Originality/value
The study analyzes emerging markets opportunities and entry strategies from the business-to-business marketing perspective, uncovering the most critical issues.

Background: Predictions suggest Africa’s combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will be amongst the fastest growing on earth in the next two decades. An expectation is that the majority of African homes will enter the consumer class, and educational performance will improve significantly within the next two decades. Nonetheless, organisations competing in Africa face numerous challenges. These include its size and complexity, transformational population growth, an abundance of talent but a lack of skills, a scarcity of large companies, the relatively small size of big companies, a poorly understood business environment, conflict, poverty and corruption. To successfully address these challenges, entrepreneurial energy and a strategy to develop leadership skills at scale is required.

Aim: The purpose of this study was to develop and assess whether a leadership skills development model which integrates six conceptual constructs is valid as a model for developing leadership skills in African fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) business-networks.

Method: The study took a pragmatic approach and followed an explanatory sequential design typology. An initial quantitative stage was conducted. Using inductive thematic interpretation methodology, the qualitative results helped explain the initial quantitative results. Applying confirmatory factor analysis, three data-model fit tests gave empirical evidence that the leadership skills development model was a good model fit.

Findings: The outcomes and practical value of this study included a theoretically relevant, empirically validated leadership skills development model, Super-Cube® for African FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) business-networks, as well as a range of recommendations on how to develop leadership skills throughout Africa.

Conclusion: Leadership skills development is complex, especially in a rapidly changing environment. This study is the first that proposes a leadership skills development model for African FMCG business-networks that directly contributes to the discipline of leadership and leadership development.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) in its current rendition is poised to transform or even disrupt business interactions, relationships and networks. Recent developments associated with AI, including robotics and cognitive agents have not just automated industrial processes but can now change most business activities. AI is discussed in terms of development into types of intelligent agents-weak and strong-and their role in business relationships, interactions and networks. A set of research insights focused on defining and exploring AI within the IMP approach are discussed-and are urgent, or this may be not completed by human actors.

This paper employs comparative longitudinal case study research to investigate why and how strong dyadic interfirm ties and two alternative network architectures (a ‘strong ties network’ and a ‘dual network’) impact the innovative capability of the lead firm in an alliance network. I answer these intrinsically cross-level research questions by examining how three design-intensive furnishings manufacturers managed their networks of joint-design alliances with consulting industrial design firms over more than 30 years. Initially, in order to explore the sample lead firms’ alliance behavior, I advance an operationalization of interorganizational tie strength. Next, I unveil the strengths of strong ties and the weaknesses of a strong ties network. Finally, I show that the ability to integrate a large periphery of heterogeneous weak ties and a core of strong ties is a distinctive lead firm’s relational capability, one that provides fertile ground for leading firms in knowledge-intensive alliance networks to gain competitive advantages whose sustainability is primarily based on the dynamic innovative capability resulting from leveraging a dual network architecture.

Durch die immer schnelleren Veränderungen im Markt stehen Organisationen vor der Aufgabe ihre intra-organisationalen Kommunikationsnetzwerke effizient an die gegebenen Anforderungen anzupassen (Brass et al., 2004). Teams nehmen als kooperative Basiseinheiten eine wesentliche Rolle ein um die gesetzten Ziele der Organisationen zu erreichen und es konnte nachgewiesen werden, dass die Kommunikationsstruktur innerhalb und zwischen Teams deren Performance signifikant beeinflusst (Balkundi & Harrison, 2006). Die meisten dieser Studien analysieren jedoch statische Netzwerke, obwohl sich Teams auf Grundlage der dynamischen Interaktionen zwischen Akteuren über die Zeit entwickeln (Katz et al., 2004). In dieser Arbeit wird daher der Frage nachgegangen, wie sich dynamische Teamnetzwerke über die Zeit entwickeln und wie sich diese Netzwerke auf die Team Performance auswirken (Zenk, Stadtfeld & Windhager, 2010).

Abstract

This article deals with the concept of embeddedness and its role in understanding the evolution of business networks. Networks are viewed as structures of inter-firm relationships that emerge and evolve through continuous interactive processes. Embeddedness refers to companies' relations with, and dependence on, various types of network. Six types of embeddedness are distinguished and the vertical and horizontal dimensions of the phenomenon are analysed. The concept of the actor's representational role is introduced to illustrate how embeddedness functions as a force for change in the evolution of networks. Cases from a variety of business contexts are used to describe the aspects of embeddedness, and their impact on the process of network evolution. In conclusion some implications for research and practice are presented.

Keywords

    Business networks;
    embeddedness;
    network evolution;
    process research"

Provision of mechanisms, methodologies, and functionalities to support Virtual organization Breeding Environments (VBEs) requires proper understanding of their requirements, development of representative models, thorough identification of adequate operating principles, and design and development of facilitating ICT-based tools. Addressing these aspects requires innovative solutions which are now being tackled within the FP6-IP ECOLEAD project. This paper addresses the key results achieved in the project for the area of VBEs.

Network structures have become in recent years the object of interest to both theoreticians and practitioners. The purpose of the paper is to identify the theoretical basis for the analysis of network structures and conceptual identification of factors contributing to networking. There is no universal concept that would explain the phenomenon of networks. Among the theories that provide a basis for the analysis of network structures the resource theory, transaction costs theory, agency theory, institutional theory, social networks and relational approach should be indicated . The analysis of the main pillars of the theories of networking allows to identify the main factors  contributing to networking. For conceptual identification of those factors authors have adopted the  division into four levels: the individual and the company level and the two groups of external factors (operating in the company environment at the level of the entire network and on the macro level) .

This research attempts to create a conceptual framework that explores the impact of Business networking towards Sri Lankan Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) performance and the continuity and success of SMEs. Business networking has been gaining grounds as an influencing factor for business success in the recent years. The growth of technology has increased the avenues available for Business networking in many folds, compared to what was available a decade ago. Many empirical studies have conducted to understand and model the way how Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) function and perform. However, relatively limited research has been conducted on understanding the impact of business networks on SME performance throughout the world despite most of the economies recognizing SMEs as the driving force in respective economies. In the Sri Lankan context, the available literature is minimal. Sri Lankan SMEs, on the other hand differ from the rest of the world in terms of cultural values, ethics, standard operating procedures etc. This paper, therefore, attempts to develop a conceptual framework upon which further elaboration of the said relationship can be investigated. The proposed conceptual framework pay attention to certain 'personal attributes' of the entrepreneur that influences business networking and 'business justification' for the entrepreneur to consider engaging in business networking. Featured variable in the conceptual framework are Trust,