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Paper info: Three dimensions of social capital within technological cooperation: the case of a regional strategic network

Title


Three dimensions of social capital within technological cooperation: the case of a regional strategic network

Authors


Jens Eklinder-Frick, Lars Torsten Eriksson and
Lars Hallén
Mälardalen University
Sweden
Lars Hallén

Place of Publication


The paper was published at the 28th IMP-conference in Rome, Italy in 2012.

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Abstract


Innovation does not only demand new ideas, financial resources, and knowledge of supplier and user systems, but also social capital as a crucial determinant for interaction in business networks. However, social capital is often vague, at times described as a “catch-all notion”. In this paper an operational definition of social capital is suggested to support the management of innovation in networks. Three dimensions of social capital are applied in a case study of a regional strategic network – the socio-economic, the structural and the actor-oriented dimensions with a focus on the latter one. Data were collectedat two points in time, at the start of a regional strategic network in 2004 and at the end of the project in 2010. The application of the concepts and the comparison between these two points in time highlight the influence of social capital and how it can be used to promote innovation processes.