Networking

The role of business networking has become an important area of research and government strategy within the SME sector, and is equally important for GPs. Describing them as ‘self de­signing’ partnerships, Eccles & Crane (1998 cited in Dennis, 2000), observe that business networks, within the SME sector are dynamic arrangements evolving and adjusting to accommodate changes in the business environment. Member organisa­tions have interconnected linkages that allow more efficient movement towards predetermined objectives than would be the case if they oper­ated as single, separate entities. In addition to providing much needed information alliances, business networks often provide legitimacy to their members. This legitimacy is particularly useful for businesses that provide a service and whose products are intangible; company image and reputation become crucial, since customers can rarely test or inspect the service beforehand. Not only do networks provide assistance and le­gitimacy, studies by Veradarajan & Cunningham (1995), O’Donnell, Gilmore, Cummins, & Carson (2002), Johannisson, Ramirez-Pasillas, and Karls — son, (2002) suggest that they enhance business structure, business process and a distribution of power. Again, the results of studies vary. Where early studies (Brush, 1997; Carter, 2000; Carter & Rosa, 1998; DeWine & Casbolt, 1983; Sandberg, 2003; Smeltzer & Fann, 1989) suggest that male networks were unwelcoming of females, reduc­ing the females’ ability to use network partners to gain finance or attract technical or marketing assistance, more recent studies (Klyver & Terjesen, 2007; Vinokurova, 2007; Waldstrom, 2007) sug­gest that females are often treated more formally than their male counterparts.