The Impact of Formal Networking on the Performance of SMEs

Davide Vannoni

No 7508382, Proceedings of International Academic Conferences from International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences

Abstract: Using a large sample of Italian small and medium enterprises (SMEs), we investigate the effect of membership in a formal business network (?contratto di rete?) on firms? economic performance. We find that network participation has a positive effect on value added and exports, but not on profitability. The advantages of networking are stronger in the case of: smaller SMEs, firms operating in traditional and in more turbulent markets, firms located in less developed areas and firms not already exploiting the weaker ties offered by industrial districts. Network characteristics, such as size, geographical dispersion and diversity, are also found to influence performance.

Keywords: formal business network; small and medium firms; economic performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D22 L25 M21 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 1 page
Date: 2018-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec, nep-cse, nep-eff, nep-sbm, nep-soc and nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published in Proceedings of the Proceedings of the IISES Annual Conference, Sevilla, Spain, Apr 2018, pages 306-306

Downloads: (external link)
https://iises.net/proceedings/iises-annual-confere ... =75&iid=046&rid=8382 First version, 2018

Related works:
Working Paper: The impact of formal networking on the performance of SMEs (2016)
Working Paper: The Impact of Formal Networking on the Performance of SMEs (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sek:iacpro:7508382

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