A Case Study: Entrepreneurial Networks

The purpose of this thesis has been to explore how 5 Irish SME’s use their business network and inter-organizational collaboration to gain competitive advantages and stimulate growth. The research has been exploratory using 5 separate case studies with an aim to gain better insights how entrepreneurs shape their strategies and utilize networks and relationships with other actors to expand their business, and business knowledge. Five entrepreneurs have been interviewed regarding how they network with other firms, on a formal and informal basis. What type of networks they utilize to achieve competitiveness and upsize their business, or develop new business opportunities and their interest and activities on emerging markets. The results show that business networks (forma and informal) are essential for SME’s and all those interviewed agreed that networks improve the long term sustainability of the SME. What becomes evident from this study is that in order to survive, the entrepreneur and SME must establish a strong strategic network to rely on. Relationships within the networks are reflective of life itself. Some networks are for the duration of the business contract, others become more long term, with actors free to come and go at any point. The emergence of new technology business networking tools, can facilitate new methods of doing business, and harnessing the business capabilities of these new networking mechanisms can help firms gain competitive advantage and long term sustainability