Alistair R. Anderson

The articulation of social capital in entrepreneurial networks: a glue or a lubricant?

While social capital has been applied in a variety of contexts, the nature, role and application of social capital in an entrepreneurial context have not been extensively explored. The nature of social capital presents a conceptual puzzle in that it is said to be both glue, which forms the structure of networks, and at the same time a lubricant that facilitates the operation of networks. Using techniques of participant observation and interviews, this paper attempts to resolve this enigma. It finds that social capital is not a thing, but a process that creates a condition of social capital. The structural and relational aspects are found to be dimensions of this process. Interestingly, the data also demonstrates that there are successful etiquettes of social capital formation. These etiquettes provide the rules and framework for the interactions.

Entrepreneurship education within the enterprise culture: Producing reflective practitioners

The enterprise culture is founded on the premise that entrepreneurship is the engine that drives the economy. One aspect of this cultural pervasion is the increase in the numbers of educational institutions teaching entrepreneurship courses. Yet this hegemony of the encouragement of new business start‐up, almost for its own sake, needs to be critically reviewed. One aspect is the enigmatic nature of entrepreneurship itself; what is it, and can it be taught? Another aspect is the very different expectations of those stakeholders promoting entrepreneurship education. Argues that the process of entrepreneurship involves both art and science; consequently our students need more than SME management skills. Graduating enterprise students must be innovative and creative to satisfy the need for entrepreneurial novelty ‐ the art. Yet, paradoxically they also need to be competent and multifunctional managers ‐ the science. Explores both these areas to argue that theory can bridge the art and science. The final section explains briefly how the recent research and practice at Aberdeen University attempts this synthesis. The intended outcome of our educational process are reflective practitioners, fit for an entrepreneurial career.

Change and the development of entrepreneurial networks over time: a processual perspective

Although it is now well established that networks contribute to entrepreneurship by extending the individual entrepreneurial asset base of human, social, market, financial and technical capacity, little work, empirical or theoretical, has examined the dynamics of networking processes in a temporal framework. Drawing on evidence from three longitudinal case studies of entrepreneurs operating in the oil industry in the North East of Scotland, this paper presents an extensive empirical investigation into network transformation over time. We are thus able to chart networks in their historical contingency. This chronological lens allows us to view patterns in network continuity and change and enables us to develop a rich conceptual framework. The study demonstrates that networks are vital living organisms, changing, growing and developing over time. Yet set in their history, networks are much more than an extension of the entrepreneurial asset base. Our data shows how a reconceptualization of the nature of networking is called for; one which privileges an understanding of the relational dynamic as a structural configuration representing the social construction of the entrepreneurial environment. Thus our conceptualization proposes that networks actually create the environment, as it is understood and operated by the entrepreneur, and that consequently the networking process is the enactment of the environment.

Class matters: human and social capital in the entrepreneurial process

Abstract This paper explores how entrepreneurial family background impacts upon the development of social and human capital resources and demonstrates how these affect the profitability and growth of new enterprise. Through a qualitative approach, we found that those entrepreneurs from higher socio-economic groupings had high endowments of human capital. Significantly, their businesses were characterised by greater profitability and growth potential. Those entrepreneurs also had social networks characterised by high endowments of human capital. Consequently entrepreneurs from higher socio-economic class had access to highly effective business support, and these networks provided a ‘platform’ from which opportunities could be both recognised and realised.

The Role of Family Members in Entrepreneurial Networks: Beyond the Boundaries of the Family Firm

Research has traditionally concentrated on formal kin involvement in the family business. This study investigates if, to what extent, and how entrepreneurs capitalized on resources embedded in the family, but beyond the formal traditionally defined boundaries of the family firm. Employing both quantitative and qualitative approaches, the study finds that about one-quarter of our samples entrepreneurial network ties were kin, and that most of these worked outside the formal family firm. These ties provided a range of very important resources, both professional and affective in nature. Such beneficial ties extend the family firm without incurring the typical hazards of external linkages.

News and nuances of the entrepreneurial myth and metaphor: linguistic games in entrepreneurial sense-making and sense-giving.

This article describes a social construction of entrepreneurship by exploring the constructionalist building blocks of communication, myth, and metaphor presented in a major British middle range broadsheet newspaper with no particular party political allegiance. We argue that the sense–making role of figurative language is important because of the inherent problems in defining and describing the entrepreneurial phenomena. Myth and metaphor in newspapers create an entrepreneurial appreciation that helps define our understanding of the world around us. The content analysis of articles published in this newspaper revealed images of male entrepreneurs as dynamic wolfish charmers, supernatural gurus, successful skyrockets or community saviors and corrupters. Finally, this article relates the temporal construction of myth and metaphor to the dynamics of enterprise culture.

Mumpsimus and the Mything of the Individualistic Entrepreneur

The purpose of this article is to explore the persistence, in the face of considerable evidence to the contrary, of the notion that entrepreneurship is a purely individualistic practice. It may be that taking account of the dynamics of social conditioning, social interaction and the embedding process is simply too complex to be used as a heuristic; instead the convenient myth of the romantic of the heroic individual holds sway.The methodological issue of an under-socialized concept of entrepreneurship is considered, showing how methodological individualism could easily arise in explanations that risk employing contradictory levels of analysis and explanation.To conceive the entrepreneur as an atomistic and isolated agent of change is to ignore the milieu that supports, drives, produces and receives the entrepreneurial process.The entrepreneurial agent encounters the social, may be shaped by it, but in turn, employs his or her agency to change the structure.

Entrepreneurial Social Capital Conceptualizing Social Capital in New High-tech Firms

Although the literature on social capital has increased dramatically in recent years, concerns have been raised about the expanse of applications of the term, diversity of constructs, definitions and variety of analyses. The purpose of this article is to clarify the conceptualization of social capital in entrepreneurship.To achieve this, the article begins with a review of the extensive literature on social capital.This provides a preliminary theoretical framework about the nature and categories of social capital. Thereafter, an account is provided of an empirical study in which in-depth and extensive data were gathered about the social interactions of entrepreneurs from 10 technology firms. Findings demonstrate that social capital is a social relational artefact produced in social interactions. It is not owned but represents a pool of goodwill residing in a social network and it can be envisaged as a revolving mutual fund of traded and un-traded interdependencies.

Paradox in the periphery: an entrepreneurial reconstruction?

The aim of this paper is to explore the relationship between entrepreneurship and the structure of the periphery. The objective is to reach an understanding of the entrepreneurial process within the context of the periphery, which is traditionally seen as a poor environment. The paper considers the concept of peripherality and identifies a process of gravitation that drains higher order services towards the core. However, this deterministic model does not correspond with the realities of the Scottish Highlands. The paradox is that new businesses are being created that appear to use old redundant peripheral values such as tradition. It is argued that it is the social construction of the periphery that produces this post-modern change. The qualitative methodology indicates the emergence of a new spatial paradigm of aesthetic consumption. Two indicative case studies are presented which show that entrepreneurship is the creation and extraction of value from the environment. Their businesses are the commodification of non-material and aesthetic values. Further analysis of these data demonstrates that entrepreneurs interpret their own version of the environment, rather than merely reacting to it. In turn, they enact this interpretation which forms the basis of their businesses.

Cultivating the Garden of Eden: environmental entrepreneuring

Presents a discussion on the nature of environmentalism and the nature of enterprise. It argues that while, superficially, these concepts might appear to be contradictory, on examination key communalities become evident. Crucially, both are recognised to be social processes which are based on the notion of value. In environmentalism the value of economic growth per se is questioned. It challenges ideas about what society should consider to be valuable; about whether quality of life is more important than standard of living. Entrepreneurship is argued to be about the creation of value, first at a social level in terms of new products or services, and second, at an individual level in terms of the production of idiosyncratic values, such as self‐satisfaction and gratification. The paper proposes, and demonstrates, by examples, that changes in social evaluations, brought about by “greening”, mean that new entrepreneurial opportunities have arisen to develop new businesses. Consequently, these new businesses are embedded in, and valorised by, the emergent social values. Given that they are also energised and motivated at a personal level they are seen to be both viable and environmentally sustainable.