In Search of Entrepreneurial Network Configurations: Using Q-Analysis to Study Network Structures and Flows
Best Paper award at EUROMOT 2009
Studies of entrepreneurial networks have largely overlooked configurational research, which is concerned with... more Studies of entrepreneurial networks have largely overlooked configurational research, which is concerned with organizational diversity. We suggest that this is due to conceptual and methodological constraints that restrict studies to concentrate on one or other of the two dominant network perspectives - structural and flow. Consequently, we know relatively little about how both these network perspectives combine to create distinct configurations. In response, we introduce a conceptual model and the Q-analysis method and use these to develop a typology of four network configurations. We then present arguments concerning the effective network goals and network capabilities particular to each configuration.