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Unexpected relations in the expected network
Mid Sweden University, Faculty of Human Sciences, Department of Social Sciences.
2012 (English)Conference paper, Oral presentation with published abstract (Refereed)
Abstract [en]

The aim of this paper is to explore what kind of network relations women build within a supportive constructed network aimed at developing the women’s enterprises and also to discuss how such constructed networks should be organized. The research questions are concentrated around development programs and the networking development within such a program. The first two questions center on development programs with the aim to stimulate networking among women entrepreneurs: Does a development program benefit women´s networking? How should a development program be designed to support networking? The third and fourth research questions explore what happens in a development program that could be seen as a form of constructed network: What network relationships are present in a constructed network? Who are the women networking with and about what, within the constructed network? This study contribute to earlier studies by Hill et al. (1999) and Greve and Salaff (2003) in the area of network development and to Granovetter´s (1973, 1982) ideas about strong and weak ties between actors in networks. Overall this is a contribution to women’s entrepreneurship theory, especially on issues regarding the way networks develop over time with an emphasis on women entrepreneurs’ networking in constructed networks.   A qualitative approach was used to study a development program comprised of 24 women entrepreneurs. Surveying was threefold: First, a short questionnaire was handed out twice querying the entrepreneurs regarding network contacts important for business development. Second, the entrepreneurs wrote reflective answers to questions regarding their participation in mixed network groups (with participants from both countries and from different branches): did they develop new ideas about networking that they would like to test themselves or see tested by others? Finally, participant observations were made at meetings in the development program. The results show that new relations emerge over country borders and business borders as well as within and outside the program. Initially the networking was about advice and support. There were also some business relationships forged crossing the national border and within the same branches. The entrepreneurs have gradually realized the value of networking and have seen the benefits of developing their network with more professional contacts. It is not possible to organize everything around networking but we can facilitate with theoretical and practical examples in development programs.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2012.
National Category
Business Administration
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-27315OAI: oai:DiVA.org:miun-27315DiVA, id: diva2:913569
Conference
17th Nordic Conference on Small Business, Helsinki, Finland, May 23-25, 2012
Available from: 2016-03-21 Created: 2016-03-21 Last updated: 2016-07-27Bibliographically approved

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http://ncsb2012.aalto.fi/en/call_for_papers/abstracts/abstract_volume_web.pdf

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Bogren, Maria

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CiteExportLink to record
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Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf