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Why don’t all high-trust networks achieve strong network benefits? A case-based exploration of cooperation in Norwegian SME networks

ABSTRACT This paper explores the interactions between three focal constructs: network trust, network cooperation and network benefits. While positive interactions between these constructs are generally recognised, a deeper understanding is needed why high trust does not always coincide with high levels of cooperation and benefits in networks. Based on qualitative and survey data gathered from three Norwegian small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) networks, this paper contributes to the process theory of inter-organisational relationships by showing how network trust, cooperation and benefits interact in various ways in ongoing networks, leading to a more nuanced understanding of the relative and changing impact of each of the three focal constructs on the other constructs. In particular, trust facilitates cooperative initiatives that promise real network benefits which subsequently reinforce trust, especially when network members are smaller firms and the network has many members.

The restructuring of the old industrial region of Grenland in Norway: Between lock-in, adjustment, and renewal

While the concept of ‘lock-in’ has been popular as a catch-all concept for explaining negative externalities associated with entrenched institutions in old industrial regions, recent research suggests a more nuanced account centred on path-dependent evolution. More specifically, regional economic development and restructuring might be better understood if lock-in is studied in relation to other potentially co-evolving processes, such as economic adjustment and renewal. The article indicates patterns of structural change and reported innovations, and the authors question how lock-in has co-evolved with various processes of adjustment and renewal in the old industrial area of the Grenland region in Norway, focusing on the period between 2000 and 2011. They pay specific attention to various measures of restructuring in the process manufacturing industry, the related mechanical manufacturing industry, and the emergence of a local information and communications technology (ICT) industry. While the Grenland region displays elements of economic lock-in and a continued dependence on process manufacturing, it has experienced substantial structural shifts that suggest regional renewal.

Strengthening regional innovation through network-based innovation brokering

The primary objective of this paper is to demonstrate how regional innovation system theory may be translated into manageable micro-level methods with the potential for strengthening the productive dynamics of a regional innovation system. The paper meets this objective by presenting network-based innovation brokering (NBIB), a practical method designed using insights from regional innovation system theory and trust theory. Five cases from two Norwegian regional innovation networks show that in addition to knowledge development and diffusion, NBIB strengthened collaborative attitude and trust between members of the regional innovation system. Moreover, it served as an arena for entrepreneurial experimentation, resulting in projects combining two modes of innovation; the Science, Technology and Innovation mode and the Doing, Using and Interaction mode. The method, thus, may be viewed as a useful addition to the inventory of methods used to stimulate innovation in regional innovation systems (RISs). On a more general level, the paper represents a call to the community of innovation researchers and practitioners to give a higher priority to the question of how to better realize the pragmatic potential of RIS-theory.

Dynamic capabilities and network benefits

The number of publicly funded initiatives to establish or strengthen networks and clusters, in order to enhance innovation, has been increasing. Returns on such investments vary, and the aim of this study is to explore to what extent the variation in benefits for firms participating in networks or clusters can be explained by their dynamic capabilities (DC). Based on survey data from five Norwegian networks, the results suggest that firms with higher DC are more successful in harvesting the potential benefits of being member of a network.