Mapping Innovation Networks

Steve Conway and Fred Steward
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Steve Conway: Strategic Management & Innovation Research Group, Aston Business School, Birmingham, B4 7ET, United Kingdom
Fred Steward: Strategic Management & Innovation Research Group, Aston Business School, Birmingham, B4 7ET, United Kingdom

International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), 1998, vol. 02, issue 02, 223-254

Abstract: This paper outlines a detailed and systematic method for revealing and mapping out the network mobilised in the development of a discrete innovation. This is termed afocal action-set. Important to the utility of this approach has been the development of a set of conventions for the graphical expression of the network and its components: actors, links and flows. It is argued that the network graphic provides a powerful, though under-utilised, tool for the representation of relational data. It may be employed, for example, to reveal variations in network configuration and to highlight key networking or boundary-spanning actors. The network mapping approach is illustrated through three cases of small firm innovation drawn from a wider investigation of award-winning technological innovations. A comparison between the network maps show a variation in the key boundary-spanning interactions, which is related to the organisational background of the entrepreneurial actor.

Keywords: Mapping; graphical; networks; SME; innovation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1998
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DOI: 10.1142/S1363919698000110

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