Arent Greve

Social Networks and Entrepreneurship

We study network activities of entrepreneurs through three phases of establishing a firm in four countries. Entrepreneurs access people in their networks to discuss aspects of establishing and running a business. We find that entrepreneurs build networks that systematically vary by the phase of entrepreneurship, analyzing number of their discussion partners, and the time spent networking. Entrepreneurs talk with more people during the planning than other phases. Family members are present in their networks in all phases, particularly among those who took over an existing firm. However, women use their kin to a larger extent than men, and even more than men when they take over an existing firm. Experienced entrepreneurs have the same networking patterns as novices. Moreover, these networking patterns are the same in all countries. However, there are country differences in size of discussion networks and time spent networking.

Networks and entrepreneurship -- an analysis of social relations, occupational background, and use of contacts during the establishment process

A network perspective of entrepreneurship focuses on social processes influencing founding rates and social structures facilitating entrepreneurship through mobilization of complementary assets. This study analyzes network structures and activities during different stages of entrepreneurship. Data of ego-centered networks and network activities show that people in early stages of entrepreneurship have smaller networks and use less time networking than people in later stages. Measures of network density did not differentiate entrepreneurial stages, but the size of the network did, including potential size through access to indirect contacts in independent clusters. Comparing the different phases of entrepreneurship that are differences in the occupational background of network persons. This concludes with a discussion of change or stability of networks during the founding process for successful entrepreneurship.

Does the degree of redundancy in social networks influence the success of business start‐ups?

Entrepreneurs use their social network to start businesses. According to Burt, low redundancy in the social network promotes entrepreneurial success. In non‐redundant networks the entrepreneurs’ contacts do not know each other and rarely have the same information. Low network redundancy gives entrepreneurs better information and it allows entrepreneurs to combine resources from non‐redundant sources. In contrast, when there is high redundancy the contacts know each other and may provide the same information. However, our study cannot confirm this hypothesis. Using data on 100 entrepreneurs in Norway we find that simple measures such as the number and strength of ties are more important for entrepreneurs than redundancy because many weak and strong ties increase the entrepreneur’s access to resources. We find that much redundancy is beneficial. Entrepreneurs get information and support more easily if they have many ties with redundant relations.

Exploring the contributions of human and social capital to productivity

In this article we investigate how human and social capital contribute to individual productivity. We study three firms that complete all their tasks as projects. The employees in all firms initiate and organise their projects. We collected archival data from the firms on performance, human capital, tenure, gender and their project activities. Social network data are generated from interviews and a survey. We find that social capital is the most important factor to determine productivity. We found mixed effects from human capital; only in one firm did human capital have a noticeable effect on productivity; tenure has no effects on productivity.

Performance Spillover Effects in Entrepreneurial Networks: Assessing a Dyadic Theory of Social Capital

We study how social capital induces performance spillover effects in an industry network of entrepreneurs building their own hydroelectric micro–power plants. Most of them are farmers and novices living in rural areas. There is a link between social capital and performance at firm level. By expanding the level of analysis to dyads, we find that entrepreneurs lacking social capital can compensate for this through cohesion with colleagues rich in social capital. Entrepreneurs can also benefit by mimicking the networking patterns of successful colleagues, gaining access to equivalent resources developed in the niche.

Ethnic Entrepreneurship, Social Networks, and the Enclave

It is said that immigrants turn to entrepreneurship when, blocked from the mainstream, they can find a protected niche in the ethnic enclave. Canadian employers do not recognize the credentials of immigrant professional and technical workers. As a result, many turn to self employment. This paper studies entrepreneurship by a number of former professional and skilled new immigrants from China. We discuss the dynamics of starting a business in relation to the co-ethnic community. The data base for our paper is our ethnographic study of 50 PRC (People’s Republic of China) immigrant couples who ‘landed’ in Canada from 1996 to 2001. To date, 15 have tried self-employment. While several scholars have researched the processes of immigrant business start-ups, most describe densely networked ethnic communities. In contrast, these PRC newcomers are not embedded in the mainstream society; they lack roots in their co-ethnic communities. Neither are they part of a chain of people that arrive together. As pioneer immigrants, they consciously develop and build relations, on which their business efforts rest. Yet their connections are resource poor. We can learn much about the evolution of community and entrepreneurship from further study of PRC immigrants. They are rich in human capital, but poor in social relationships.

Looking For a Network Organization: The Case of GESTO

We present ten propositions to explore an ideal type of network organizations with emphasis on internal structure relating properties to organizational structure and processes. Network organizations are flat, flexible structures, with high reachability and high information access enabling learning. Based on an exploratory case study we use network analysis and find that this organization has the properties of a network organization. The employees participate in several networks, work is done in project groups that are initiated and organized by the employees. Oligarchy or hierarchy are not distinct features of the organization; the flexibility of the structures is demonstrated by showing that the members change network position in project networks over time. Tenure, the most important integrating mechanism, influences centrality measures, skill levels, and the ability to propose and organize projects.

When counting cattle is not enough: multiple perspectives in agricultural and veterinary research

A traditional approach in agricultural and veterinary research is focussing on the biological perspective where large cattle-databases are used to analyse the dairy herd. This approach has yielded valuable insights. However, recent research indicates that this knowledge-base can be further increased by examining agricultural and veterinary challenges from other perspectives. In this paper we suggest three perspectives that may supplement the biological perspective in agricultural and veterinary research; the economic-, the managerial-, and the social perspective. We review recent studies applying or combining these perspectives and discuss how multiple perspectives may improve our understanding and ability to handle cattle-health challenges.

The role of human and social capital in dairy farming

We explored how human and social capital influences productivity among dairy farmers. Farmers’ education varied from no agricultural education to higher university education. Interaction between human and social capital influenced farm performance. There were substantial differences among farms in quality and economic outcomes. Our 90 respondents came from a random sample of farmers from the five most important dairy farming areas in Norway. We merged interview data with a database on biological and financial data to conduct statistical analyses. Education had clear effects on the financial outcomes of farmers with direct and interaction effects of social capital. Interaction effects with education showed people with agronomy education and social capital had substantially higher incomes than farmers without relevant education. We also found a negative relationship between high levels of social capital and farm performance when farmers lacked relevant education. Our research draws upon learning theory to further explain the findings and make future recommendations.

Social Networks and Family Relations in Return Migration

Social science studies of transnational migration confirm the importance of family links to migration. However, research neglects the focus on family in studies of East Asian return migration instead stressing how Asian job opportunities underpin the return of individuals. Our investigation of Asian family migration discusses how Asian youths take family and social relations into consideration when making decisions about where to live after graduation. We conducted qualitative interviews with 27 East Asian youths in Toronto, representing three different cohorts: second generation (those born in Canada); “1.5 generation” (those born in Asia who immigrated to Canada as youngsters); and foreign students. Youths follow the lead of their kin networks. The most likely returnees tend to be the 1.5 generation whose families maintain transnational relations to their countries of origin allowing their children to build their own Asian networks. These youth organise their careers after graduation to return to their land of ethnic origins. Given the pivotal role of family and their transnational social networks in decisions to return, other family variables related to the life cycle are also important to decisions. We also find gender differences; females are more likely than males to follow their partners’ preferences.