Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Entrepreneurial Networks

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Social Network Analysis and Mining

  • 74 Accesses

Synonyms

Business networks; Innovative networks; Social capital in business

Glossary

Embeddedness:

The degree to which subjects are fit in social networks

En:

Entrepreneurial networks

Network closure:

The degree to which a network is complete

Network density:

The proportion of actual ties, over all possible ties

R&D:

Research and development

Definition

Entrepreneurial networks (EN) are defined as the patterns of interpersonal relations emerging from entrepreneurial activities. In their everyday activities, entrepreneurs get in contact with a variety of other actors, playing important roles in the functioning of their business.

EN can be analytically distinguished from interorganizational networks, whose nodes are firms and whose ties are, for instance, interlocking directorates, contracts, goods and services exchanges, communications, alliances, or ownership control relations. The distinction between EN and interorganizational networks in empirical research is not so straightforward,...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Baghdiantz-McCabe I, Harleftis G, Pepelase Minoglou I (eds) (2005) Diaspora entrepreneurial networks: four centuries of history. Berg, Oxford/New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Batjarqal B, Liu M (2004) Entrepreneurs’ access to private equity in China: the role of social capital. Organ Sci 15:159–172

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bonacich E (1973) A theory of middleman minorities. Am Sociol Rev 38:583–594

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burt R (1992) Structural holes. Harvard University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Burt R (2010) Neighbor networks. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Chiesi AM (2007) Measuring social capital and its effectiveness. The case of small entrepreneurs in Italy. Eur Sociol Rev 23:437–453

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chiesi AM (2014) Interpersonal networking and business resilience: how immigrants in small business face the crisis in Italy. Eur Sociol Rev 30:457–469

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Roover R (1963) The rise and decline of the Medici Bank. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, pp 1397–1494

    Google Scholar 

  • Fei X (1992/1949) From the soil, the foundation of Chinese society. University of California Press, Berkeley

    Google Scholar 

  • Knight FH (1921) Risk, uncertainty and profit. Hart Schaffner and Marx, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Lin N (2001) Guanxi: a conceptual analysis. In: So A, Lin N, Poston D (eds) The Chinese triangle of Mainland, Taiwan, and Hong Kong: comparative institutional analysis. Greenwood, Westport, pp 153–166

    Google Scholar 

  • Marchington M, Vincent S (2004) Analysing the influence of institutional, organizational and interpersonal forces in shaping inter-organizational relations. J Manag Stud 41(6):1029–1056

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nakane C (1970) The Japanese society. University of California Press, Berkeley

    Google Scholar 

  • Nann S, Kraussa J, Schoberb M, Gloor PA, Fischbach K, Führes H (2010) Comparing the structure of virtual entrepreneur networks with business effectiveness. Procedia Soc Behav Sci 2:6483–6493

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peng Y (2004) Kinship networks in China’s traditional economy. Am J Sociol 109:1034–1074

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Renzulli LA, Aldrich H, Mody J (2000) Family matters: gender, networks and entrepreneurial outcomes. Soc Forces 79:523–546

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schumpeter J (1934) The theory of economic development. Harvard University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Sombart W (1911) Die juden und das wirtschaftsleben. Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig

    Google Scholar 

  • Uzzi B (1996) The sources and consequences of embeddedness for the economic performance of organizations: the network effect. Am Sociol Rev 61:674–698

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • von Hayek FA (1937) Economics and knowledge. Economica 4:33–54

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weber M (1922) Wirtschaft und gesellschaft. Mohr, Tübingen

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social and Political Sciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Antonio M. Chiesi

Authors
  1. Antonio M. Chiesi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Antonio M. Chiesi .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Computer Science, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

    Reda Alhajj

  2. University of Calgary Computer Science, Calgary, Canada

    Jon Rokne

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Sociology, Interuniversity Center for Social Science Theory and Methodology, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Jacob Dijkstra

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer Science+Business Media LLC

About this entry

Cite this entry

Chiesi, A.M. (2017). Entrepreneurial Networks. In: Alhajj, R., Rokne, J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Social Network Analysis and Mining. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7163-9_367-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7163-9_367-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-7163-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-7163-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Computer SciencesReference Module Computer Science and Engineering

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation