The life cycle of small-firm networks: an evaluation of Brazilian business networks

• Autor(a) principal: Wegner,Douglas
• Data de Publicação: 2015
• Outros Autores: Alievi,Rejane Maria, Begnis,Heron Sérgio Moreira
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: BAR - Brazilian Administration Review
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1807-76922015000100004
• topic: small-firm networks (SFNs); cooperation; life cycle; interorganizational relations

Interorganizational agreements and cooperative business networks became an important strategy for companies facing competitive disadvantages. Specially small and medium firms adopted collaborative network models as a way to overcome common problems. Over 1,000 small-firm networks (SFNs) are estimated to have been created in Brazil since the year 2000. This study aimed to propose a SFNs life cycle model, applying it to a sample of twenty-eight SFNs established in two regions of southern Brazil. The results revealed that 68% of the analyzed SFNs are declining or no longer in business. Among the active business networks, 21% remain at the development stage, and only 11% have achieved consolidation. Most SFNs analyzed fell into a stage of decline early on in the life cycle, incapable of reaching Consolidation. Although results are restricted to the analyzed sample, our study highlights that major managerial efforts are necessary to reach the consolidation stage due to network complexity and expectations of network members. We conclude the paper by presenting subsidies for public policy makers and strategies that SFNs may adopt to reach the status of consolidated networks.