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Social entrepreneurship is a field widely explored from multiple perspectives and within multiple academic disciplines. In parallel, practitioners have applied social entrepreneurship principles to...

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the impact of social features of an inter-organizational network on organizational learning and, in turn, on its performance. Specifically, this paper focuses on the following social features: proximity among members, trust among members, trust in network management, commitment among members, members’ engagement and exchange of information.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is based on evidence from a survey involving 101 organizations that integrate the Cooperation Networks established in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The authors analyze data by using exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Furthermore, they advance to also measuring “subjective” variables to business excellence.FindingsThe authors find that trust in network management and information exchange is positively associated with organizational learning. In turn, organizational learning appears to impact network members’ performance positively. Arguably, no results about the impact of proximity among members, trust among members and commitment among members are interesting to activate a discussion on the role of region cultural dimensions in shaping the impact of social features underlying the inter-organizational networks on organizational learning.Research limitations/implicationsThis study can be enriched by considering moderating variables in the relationships between the social conditions underlying inter-organizational network and learning.Practical implicationsThe authors critically discuss the social features underlying the inter-organizational networks that impact learning among network members and how these aspects may be addressed to improve performance.Originality/valueGiven the focus of this empirical analysis, the authors advance the idea that regional culture is the layer of culture that most powerfully inspires the social features of networks, and shapes organizational learning.

Purpose In line with the recent adoption of game dynamics to promote motivation and engagement in business contexts, the purpose of this paper is to analyze how gamification tools (i.e. points, levels, challenges, badges and ranking) are used to manage cooperation networks. Design/methodology/approach To develop this purpose, an exploratory case study is conducted on the RedeMac Qualifying Program as a set of tools to enhance customer service in RedeMac, a cooperation network of hardware stores in southern Brazil. Findings The results showed the motivating role of gamification in engaging associates to the network’s decisions. The findings also indicated the effectiveness of points and badges in engaging members and highlighted opportunities to apply tools of challenge. In addition, the paper argues about the constraints for ranking in cooperation networks. Research limitations/implications The study reinforces literature assumptions that stand for the motivating potential of points, levels, badges and challenges. However, the case study highlighted the constraints to adopt the ranking tool in cooperation networks. Practical implications From the managerial point of view, the study informs managers about the adoption of gamification tools to promote motivation and engagement of associates in cooperation networks, facilitating the achievement of collective goals. Originality/value In spite of the growth of empirical literature in applying gamification to business contexts, there are no reports of research about the adoption of gamification tools on cooperative relations in a network organization.

Interorganizational relationships have been established as important locus of generating competitive advantages and consequently an interesting analysis unit for understanding the competitive advantage . From this, the aim of this paper is to analyze the development of these relations as sources of competitive advantages, through the Consortium of Community Universities Gaucho (COMUNG), composed of 15 community institutions of higher education, located in southern Brazil. Thus, it’s a single case study with multiple units of analysis, accomplished through in loco interviews with the President of the Consortium and the managers of the researched institutions, as well as secondary data. The results show a set of actions accomplished by COMUNG as sources of relational advantages, such as joint political movement, sharing administrative and academic experiences and the establishment of tacit agreements of competition. Therefore, the insider position in COMUNG gives opportunity to institut ions learning faster, reducing costs and sharing, the safeguarding geographical areas of competition and the qualification and differentiation of activities in general.

RESUMO A literatura sobre cooperação interorganizacional tem trazido ao debate acadêmico, especialmente das últimas duas décadas, uma reflexão sobre os resultados da atuação conjunta de diversos atores para alcançar fins comuns. Essa forma de pensar os meios para alcançar os fins pretendidos foi denominada por Dyer e Singh (1998) como "visão relacional". De acordo com a visão relacional, a estratégia coletiva cria uma fonte inimitável de recursos através de uma rede com acesso valioso a informações, compartilhamento de conhecimento, complementaridade de recursos e governança. O presente estudo visa ao entendimento sobre como os Governos utilizam a visão relacional para desenvolver com maior eficácia suas políticas públicas de ciência e tecnologia. A estratégia de pesquisa utilizada foi o estudo de caso e o objeto empírico analisado foi o Programa Governamental de Circuitos Integrados - CI Brasil, que foi criado com o objetivo de desenvolver recursos humanos qualificados à indústria brasileira de semicondutores. O objetivo do artigo é trazer evidências sobre como uma política pública, em uma área complexa de ciência e tecnologia, pode ser colocada em prática por meio de uma ação articulada entre diversos atores públicos e privados. O artigo enfatiza a importância das relações recíprocas entre Universidade, Indústria e Governo para a eficácia na implementação de políticas públicas.

This paper focuses on the evaluation of engineered networks created and supported by a public policy, namely cooperation networks program (CNP), guided by the Government of Rio Grande do Sul State, in Brazil. Since the year 2000, the CNP fostered the establishment of more than 200 SFNs in the region, turning this state into the main empirical field of studies on interorganisational networks in Brazil. This context raises questions regarding the SFNs genesis and its consequences. The paper, thus, seeks to answer the following question: can it be affirmed that structure and process influence the Brazilian engineered SFNs outcome? To do so, a quantitative research was conducted with the CNP networks based on the categories structure, process, and outcome. The results indicate that through an adequate network evaluation, it is possible to measure and compare results, besides facilitate intervention decisions for course corrections and obtain the targeted collective gains.

Regional strategic networks (RSNs) are long-term purposeful arrangements among firms that cooperate and compete in a regional context allowing them to win or sustain a competitive advantage. RSN coopetitive strategy requires an open approach with inclusiveness of members and internal transparency of the formulation and implementation processes. This open approach of a coopetitive strategy raises questions concerning the outcomes of RSNs. How does strategic openness affect the outcome of RSNs? What are the outcomes of an open strategy formulation and open strategy implementation? This paper focuses on the effects of greater strategy openness on the outcomes of RSNs. To achieve this goal, the study follows a quantitative exploratory survey based on 150 firms associated to 50 RSNs established by a regional public policy in southern Brazil. The unit of analysis of this study are the RSN. Results indicate that an open approach supports the RSNs' coopetitive strategy and ultimately affects their collective outcomes. Results also show a significant relationship between the member inclusion and internal transparency of the strategy process and the networks' outcomes.

Network formation aiming the development of cooperation among small and medium-sized companies has received increasing interest from the organizational field. Recent studies have been devoted to understand the management of those networks, deepening the collective aspects of the structure, the coordination, and the processes, among others. This article lies within the context of network strategy management progress and tries to understand how cooperative strategies are developed and executed. Its main objective is to evaluate to what degree the cooperative strategies in networks of small and mid-sized firms are developed. The study was based on the theoretical evaluation of networks proposed by Bortolaso et al. (2010) and addressed different aspects of cooperative strategy management in those networks, like i) the definition of common strategic objectives, ii) the collective analysis of the environment, iii) strategic network planning, iv) the deployment of the strategy in joint actions, v) monitoring of strategic planning by means of regular meetings and vi) the establishment of collective performance indicators. To achieve those goals, our analysis focuses on cooperation networks in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, which has already established over 200 small and mid-sized enterprise networks with the support of a public policy. To carry out our study, we visited 12 networks and conducted 60 interviews, i.e., five per network. The network evaluation results show that cooperative strategies are still at a low stage of development. Among the evaluated networks, only four of them feature more developed cooperative strategies. Based on these results, we performed detailed analyses of the seven aspects mentioned above, as well as a consolidated evaluation of the development level of the cooperative strategy of the networks, totalizing eight analyses. This article also points out how networks could be improved and highlights avenues for further research. Key words: Cooperation. Networks. Small and mid-sized firms. Cooperative strategies.

This paper discusses assistance from the Brazilian state government that helps entrepreneurial firms establish strategic networks (SNs). The state government developed network planning, organising, and leadership mechanisms to assist the SNs in improving their collective performance. We evaluate to what extent these mechanisms affect firm markets, learning, and cost performance, in turn affecting network effectiveness. We collected data from 55 respondents of 11 SNs. All SNs participated in the state government program and employed mechanisms developed by public agents. Our regression results show that leadership is the intervention instrument that is related to all performance measures, and planning is related to learning and cost performance. Finally, organising is negatively related to cost performance. Our findings indicate that the state government and its representatives can make use of planning and leadership intervention instruments to help improve the performance of entrepreneurial firms working together in SNs.

This paper explores the semiconductor industry and its supply chain characteristics in order to aid understanding of its overall trajectory. How can a country like Brazil produce such an insignificant amount of semiconductor components? What has led the country to this situation? The objectives of this paper are twofold: first, to describe the semiconductor supply chain in order to understand its majors elements; and second, to delineate the trajectory of this industry. More specifically, we draw on evolutionary theory to analyze three macro trajectories: economic, governmental and technological. We collected archival data about these macro drivers and conducted interviews with professors and professionals in the semiconductor field. The results show four major events in the trajectory of the Brazilian semiconductor industry: (i) investment in microelectronic laboratories; (ii) a policy of market protection; (iii) a policy of market openness to product imports: and (iv) public policies to help the development of semiconductor companies through incentives.DOI: 10.12660/joscmv6n2p20-39URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.12660/joscmv6n2p20-39

This paper addresses the assistance provided by a state government in south of Brazil to help small firms form and develop Regional Strategic Networks (RSNs). The state government and its represent...