No / In this article we examine how processes of globalization and the nature of emerging inter-firm relationships influence the organization of production in a post-socialist region, using the case of the clothing industry in Transcarpathia, Western Ukraine. We combine insights from two perspectives, the global commodity chain approach and the new regionalism. The focus on both institutional setting and interfirm relationships is essential in regions undergoing rapid change. In the article we also use Burt's concept of structural holes and the idea of a competence-difficulty gap to examine the nature of relationships within networks of firms, arguing that global integration can be viewed as a bridging process. The evidence comes from surveys and fieldwork conducted between 1997 and 2004, providing a longitudinal analysis of the same firms. Among other findings, we show that the difficulty of doing business locally may make relationships more stable. With respect to industrial structure, international subcontracting and joint-venture arrangements enable technological modernization in assembly and parts of preassembly, but also result in the demise of high-value added competences.

Two contrasting notions have been put forward on how social capital may influence individual effectiveness in organizations. Burt (1992) sets forth the informational and control advantages that are possible by building an open network characterized by large numbers of structural holes. In contrast, Coleman (1990) and Simmel (1950) have suggested that network closure, exemplified by large numbers of Simmelian ties, enables actors to develop trust, cohesiveness, and norms which contribute to effectiveness. Simmelian ties are strong, reciprocal ties shared by three actors. It is proposed that an actor's network cannot be dominated by both structural holes and Simmelian ties. Thus, this study examines whether a moderating variable is at work. It is proposed that the actor's task interdependence in the workplace influences the relationship between network closure and individual effectiveness. Actors in less task interdependent environments will benefit especially from the information and control benefits afforded by a network characterized by structural holes. Conversely, actors in highly interdependent environments will benefit especially from the creation of trust and cooperation that result from large numbers of Simmelian ties. Data was collected on 113 subjects in three organizations. Subjects were asked to rate the strength of their relationship with all organization members and their own level of task interdependence. Contrary to expectations, nearly all subjects reported high levels of task interdependence. Raters in each organization provided individual effectiveness measures for all subjects. Hypotheses were tested using hierarchical set regression and bivariate correlation. The results indicated support for the hypothesized relationship of Simmelian ties with task interdependence. When examining all cases, no support was found for the hypothesized relationship of structural holes and Simmelian ties with individual effectiveness and of structural holes with task interdependence. Nonetheless, additional analyses provided some indication of an association between Simmelian ties and individual effectiveness. Task interdependence did not moderate the relationships between either Simmelian ties or structural holes and individual effectiveness.

In today’s turbulent business circumstance, organizations’ ability to sustain their growth and competitive advantage depends on how well they manage their capital of knowledge. Recognizing that knowledge is a key factor to the success of the company, companies are evolving practices to facilitate the creation, acquisition, storage, utilization, especially the sharing of knowledge assets.   The theoretical problem of this paper is that the change of organizational model, which is more flexible, team-oriented and more reliant on knowledge assets, has influenced nowadays organizations deeply. Another development is the discovery of the importance of the organizational informal structure, which coexists with the organizational formal structure. Employees within organizations interact with each other not only in a myriad of ways, but also in a way of social relationships. However, with this shift of today’s organizations to more-organic, network-like structures, there is a great need to understand how knowledge is shared within these structures and how to manage it.   The aim of this paper concludes with the insights of how employees’ network positions are related to knowledge sharing within the organization, and how the organization could better leverage individual in these critical positions, so to ensure that knowledge in organization shared with unobstructed communication, cooperation, and reduce the costs of bridging inside the organization.   This study is a case study conducted in a Swedish company with a qualitative research strategy based on the structural holes theory, and 12 employees were interviewed. The empirical findings are that we found senior manager becomes peripheral, fear of losing power makes knowledge sharing baffling, and the hub position in network is a double-edged sword, which means that the employees’ network positions may bring competitive advantages for the employees or the whole organization, but sometimes it may press employees in a hub position too much.

This research explores and describes co-authorship network structures in the academic publication process. The production of academic publications, through co-authorship choices or strategies, creates a network structure among co-authoring scholars which can influence research visibility and enhance stature among peers (Bayer & Smart, 1991). A specific scholar's co-authorship network may reflect a structure of more cohesion (Coleman, 1988) or one which fills more structural holes (Burt, 1992), both of which are theorized, from contrasting perspectives, to be associated with publication success. Therefore, this study examined the association of these two academic co-authorship network structures with publication success, specifically within the field of research and scholarship on higher education. The network population consisted of 810 academic scholars who published articles in at least one of four top-ranked higher education research journals. Based upon structural holes and cohesion, seven different co-authorship network structures were identified. In terms of total publications, findings suggest that filling structural holes—a network structure that spans across the larger network and provides authors with a greater variety of co-authors—may even be further enhanced when there were also multiple publications with the same co-authors. Thus, an ideal hybrid network structure of both structural holes and strong ties may be possible. The data suggested that co-authoring multiple times with the same scholars (mean tie strength) may be critical to realizing the potential value buried within the structural holes (Burt, 2001).

Pomahač, Matěj. 2011. Headhunting: etnografie utváření osoby jako zboží. Nepublikovaná diplomová práce. Praha: FHS UK. Key Words ethnography; human resources consulting; headhunting; economic anthropology; economization; commodification; structural holes Summary This thesis is based on more than a year-long research which took place in a private human resources consulting company focused on the search for highly skilled workers (known as headhunting). The research focus was based primarily on the fact, that the author worked in the reference field as human resources consultant. This perspective enabled to focus on description and perception of everyday activities ongoing in the company in relation to its clients and candidates, from the headhunter's point of view. The data collected during the course of participant observation have been analysing with the use of Michel Callon's studies of economization and commodification in major part, and through the Ronald S. Burt's theory of structural holes in minor part. The analysis reveals the economic and political factors determining the field of headhunting practices and procedures, which headhunters use in order to face up their position of intermediary party between clients and candidates. The study also focuses on processes and technologies, by means of the...

This dissertation explores how dark and light personality traits influence venture performance via mediating effects of social structure. Because entrepreneurship is an inherently social process, theoretical perspectives of social network theory and social comparison theory are used to examine how entrepreneurs’ dark and light personality traits interact with personality traits of socially proximal others to influence venture performance via network structure. These perspectives are drawn together using socioanalytic theory. This dissertation argues that agreeableness and narcissism interact with the personality traits of network others at the group-level to influence structural hole positioning within entrepreneurial networks; in turn, structural holes are hypothesized to exert a positive effect on venture revenue. This study offers contributions to the fields of entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial personality, social networks, and social comparison processes. Hypotheses are tested using a dataset of 234 entrepreneurs nested within 24 groups; analyses are conducted via linear mixed effects models and Monte-Carlo approximation of mediation confidence intervals (Model 1) and OLS regression and non-parametric bootstrapping approximation of mediation confidence intervals (Model 2).

<p>Inom hälso- och sjukvården spelar informationsteknologi en allt större roll för utvecklingen. Informationsteknologin har skapat nya förutsättningar där chansen till förbättrade vårdrutiner finns inom många områden genom att införa och utveckla användandet av telemedicin.</p><p>Då vi tror att den telemedicinska potentialen kommer att användas i större utsträckning i framtiden känner vi att det finns ett intresse för en utredning av redan existerande samarbeten inom telemedicin. Vi skrev denna uppsats med syftet att undersöka, identifiera och analysera vad som krävs för att möjliggöra ett effektivt telemedicinskt partnerskap inom sjukvården för att förbättra patientens vård, behandling och ta tillvara på de arbetsprocesser som skapas i och med ett telemedicinskt samarbete. Vi har analyserat två olika typer av telemedicinska samarbeten. Vi har genom en kvalitativ undersökning, främst genom intervjuer, grundligt undersökt två av de bestående nätverken för att sedan analysera dessa med hjälp av den modell vi har sammanställt från de teorier om nätverk som vi utgått ifrån.</p><p>Utifrån analysen om Konsensusnätverket är slutsatsen att samarbetet har lett till en förbättring av kvaliteten i behandlingarna. Utifrån detta kan det konstateras att nätverkets existens inte leder till en direkt effektivisering ur ett tidsmässigt perspektiv. Nätverket leder istället till ett optimalt patientomhändertagande som ur ett långsiktigt perspektiv leder till färre felbehandlingar och därmed indirekta kostnadsbesparingar. Slutsatsen vi dragit från Australiensamarbetena är att det främsta utbytet som ges till de medverkande parterna är en förbättrad kvalitet i arbetsförhållandena och därmed även röntgendiagnoserna.</p>

Inom hälso- och sjukvården spelar informationsteknologi en allt större roll för utvecklingen. Informationsteknologin har skapat nya förutsättningar där chansen till förbättrade vårdrutiner finns inom många områden genom att införa och utveckla användandet av telemedicin. Då vi tror att den telemedicinska potentialen kommer att användas i större utsträckning i framtiden känner vi att det finns ett intresse för en utredning av redan existerande samarbeten inom telemedicin. Vi skrev denna uppsats med syftet att undersöka, identifiera och analysera vad som krävs för att möjliggöra ett effektivt telemedicinskt partnerskap inom sjukvården för att förbättra patientens vård, behandling och ta tillvara på de arbetsprocesser som skapas i och med ett telemedicinskt samarbete. Vi har analyserat två olika typer av telemedicinska samarbeten. Vi har genom en kvalitativ undersökning, främst genom intervjuer, grundligt undersökt två av de bestående nätverken för att sedan analysera dessa med hjälp av den modell vi har sammanställt från de teorier om nätverk som vi utgått ifrån. Utifrån analysen om Konsensusnätverket är slutsatsen att samarbetet har lett till en förbättring av kvaliteten i behandlingarna. Utifrån detta kan det konstateras att nätverkets existens inte leder till en direkt effektivisering ur ett tidsmässigt perspektiv. Nätverket leder istället till ett optimalt patientomhändertagande som ur ett långsiktigt perspektiv leder till färre felbehandlingar och därmed indirekta kostnadsbesparingar. Slutsatsen vi dragit från Australiensamarbetena är att det främsta utbytet som ges till de medverkande parterna är en förbättrad kvalitet i arbetsförhållandena och därmed även röntgendiagnoserna.

1953年中華全國工商業聯合會（工商聯）在中國共產黨授意之下成立，作為中華人民共和國政治協商會議組成的單位，工商聯取代明、清以來的「商會」，成為私營企業主影響政治的主要的政治渠道，更是私營企業主與黨國之間互動關係的「橋樑與紐帶」。隨著中國「非公有制經濟」地位的合法化，工商聯吸引了最有影響力的私營企業主，囊括了最廣闊的社會組織，並透過工商聯系統所建立起網絡關係，發展為國內外商會往來之間最主要的管道。權威性的政經地位與廣大的影響力，促使工商聯佔據地方政經網絡的樞紐位置，成為地方網絡「結構洞」中的橋樑。 　　本論文企圖解釋中國社會組織與私營經濟發展間的邏輯關係，以及社會資本（social capital）對於私營企業主企業經營的重要性。後社會主義時期，中國從再分配（redistribution）經濟往市場經濟轉型的過程中，社會資本作為計畫經濟官僚幹部資源分配的主要依據，將持續發揮作用，成為私營企業經營成功的關鍵所在，而隨著私營經濟逐漸形成的社團與中介組織，就成為企業主建構社會網絡累積社會資本最主要的場域。因此，本論文以私營企業主做為觀察的主要對象，分析私營企業主參與社會組織的動力問題，並以最具有政治、經濟與民間代表性的「中華全國工商業聯合會」，作為實際觀察的社會組織。 / Guanxi capital under socialism has been the critical determining criteria of resource redistribution in China, but how it evolves in the postsocialist era has not been well understood. This paper intends to examine the impact of guanxi capital on success achievements of private enterprises. The author shows that the market reform has not made the significance of guanxi capital decline but institutionalized “guanxi” in business associations. Examining the most important private business association, All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce (ACFIC) in China, the purpose of this paper is to explore the incentive structure of private entrepreneurs' participation in business associations. I argue that the ACFIC has become the efficient and effective bridge in private entrepreneurs' structural holes so private entrepreneurs with ACFIC membership can maximize their opportunities by the information and control benefits. Besides, ACFIC is one of the “basic components” of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. The endorsement of CCP leads ACFIC to the top in China's administrative hierarchy of private business associations. The representative position provides private entrepreneurs institutional route to negotiate the party state, local government and local cadres for their businesses. Based on the field study in Wenzhou, Zhejiang and Honghe, Yunnan, the business network surrounding ACFIC and private entrepreneurs' strategies of accumulating social capital in ACFIC will be analyzed.

IC(積體電路)產業是台灣過去三十多年來發展最完整、且在世界上最具有競爭力的創新型產業。研發與技術專利成長快速，也代表這個產業的技術創新成果。台灣IC 產業技術創新和專利的研究累積了一些成果，但較缺乏使用研發創新發明人網絡所做的分析。本研究使用IC 產業專利發明人網絡資料，從結構洞(structural holes)和地位訊號(status signal)這兩個過去西方半導體和生物科技等創新產業研究中，最能解釋創新行動者與網絡系統和創新表現理論機制的學術研究累積成果出發，並反省台灣特有IC 產業分工技術利基位置、流動型勞力市場，發展出專利發明人網絡對專利發明成果影響機制之模型。研究發現，分析結果支持發明人地位訊號、結構洞網絡理論機制有助於專利創新發明的假設。而比較特殊的例外是，上游的專利發明網絡，結構洞低的類型反而有比較好的專利創新。這是由於上游的IC設計產業技術特性，需仰賴同一團隊的人重複合作方能完成設計，所以大多與重疊的人合作，結構限制較高，因此呈現與結構洞理論不同的情況。此外，研究發現，流動並不一定帶來較佳的技術創新，台灣IC產業專利人才流動對於技術發展與創新的正面影響，較多是在上游的IC設計產業。 因此創新發明鑲嵌在台灣特有半導體的不同技術利基環境中，還必須考慮到不同產業位置的技術特性，與產業技術發展所在的階段，才能正確解釋台灣IC產業的創新發明機制。 / The IC (integrated circuit) industry has been the most complete, competitive and innovative industry in Taiwan over the past three decades. The rapid growth of patents in this field demonstrates the marvelous outcomes of technological innovations. A huge amount of patent-based research has been accumulated in this industry, but only a little is related to the inventor network. Structural holes and status signal are two competing perspectives in explaining the dynamic mechanisms between innovative actors and network systems of the most innovative industries, semiconductor and biotechnology, in advanced countries. We use these two theories and network data of patent-based inventors to discuss the specific niche of vertical disintegration and fluid labor market in Taiwan IC industry, and develop models on mechanisms of how inventors’ networks affect the outcome of inventors’ patents. The findings reveal that the hypothesis on the effects of status signals and structural holes in inventors’ collaboration networks on the citations of inventors’ patents was supported. However, the patent inventions of the upstream IC design firms, the collaborative invention teams seem to be small or high structural constraints. Most of the patents of these newly growing firms in IC design industry are specialized in consumption products. The structural constraints are high, but the impact of is large. Besides, inventors’ fluidity would not necessarily create more influential patents. The fluidity of patent-based inventors was positive impact to the patent inventions, more was found in the IC designs company. The IC industry has been vertically differentiated into three sectors: the IC designs, the IC foundry, the package and test. In principle, these three sectors demand different levels of technology. The maturity of technological niches will affect the impacts of the patents.