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Innovation does not only demand new ideas, financial resources, and knowledge of supplier and user systems. Social capital also influences the innovativeness in business networks. However, social capital is often vague, at times described as a “catch-all notion”. In this paper definitions of social capital are suggested to support the management of innovation in networks. Three dimensions of social capital are applied in a case study of a regional strategic network – the socio-economic, the structural and the actor-oriented dimensions – while focusing on the last one. Data were collected at two points in time, at the start of the regional strategic network in 2004 and at the end of the project in 2010. The application of the concepts and the comparison between these two points in time highlight the influence of social capital and how it can hinder or be used to promote innovation processes.

Understanding the role of social capital is vital for implementing cluster policies as regional strategic networks and cluster initiatives are influenced by the local socio-economic context and its social capital. Social capital can create value for companies by closure of the network structure (bonding), which maintains internal mutual trust but bonding can also over-embed companies in their social context, whereas sparse networks that provide links to other parts of relevant business networks (bridging) often provide greater innovation benefits. We provide a conceptual framework applied to a case study of a Swedish regional strategic network, and examples mostly of positive effects of bridging social capital and negative effects of the bonding form are identified. This is interpreted against the background of the regional dependence-oriented culture.

Företagsekonomiska uppsatser och promemorior är antagligen i genomsnitt varken bättre eller sämre än texter som skrivs av studenter i andra ekonomiska eller samhällsvetenskapliga ämnen. Men företagsekonomer skriver mycket, vilket ger möjlighet till mer övning i att uttrycka sig på god svenska än för många andra. Å andra sidan exponeras företagsekonomer också mycket för branschjargong, svengelska och så kallade grafiska hyss som ibland rentav framförs med anspråk på att vara normbildande. Vidare har den tekniska utvecklingen på ordbehandlingsområdet underlättat skrivarbetet mycket, men det har också gjort det möjligt att göra fel på många nya sätt. Vår avsikt här är att peka på en del fel som erfarenheten har visat att både företagsekonomer och andra kan förledas till att göra, men råden har en viss tonvikt på ekonomiskt språkbruk

Research on networks emphasizes the importance of bonds between actors. Social reciprocity strengthens network bonds, which is assumed to have positive effects on business relationships between firms. However, the importance of weak ties is also stressed in network research. An important policy issue is therefore if more attention should be devoted to the creation of bridges to other social groups and loosening bonds between network actors. The difficulty in doing so is described and analyzed in this article focusing on a regional strategic network, which is viewed in three network perspectives. Interview data were collected from all participating managers in a regional strategic network in 2004 and 2010. The findings shed light upon the paradox of using a regional strategic network to counteract over-embeddedness and freeing the involved actors from existing network lock-ins instead of further strengthening such social institutions.