Formal Project Organization and Informal Social Networks: Regional Advantages in the Emergent Animation Industry in Oslo, Norway

This article focuses on the social networks that facilitate projects based activities in one particular part of cultural industries. Cultural industries are dependent on flexible ways of organizing their work because they operate in unpredictable markets. However, the organization of work in temporary projects challenges some key assumptions when it comes to the need for long-term, stable relationships for innovative and effective organizations. A key question is thus how firms that do not have a formal organization that creates stable relationships manage to create continuity in what they do. The study is based on semi-structured interviews with core firms that operate within the animation industry in Oslo, Norway. The findings show that in the animation industry, projects are part of the formal organization of the industry, while social networks are part of the informal organization and that different stages in the projects are governed by different types of network relations. The main conclusion is that mutual trust within the project networks and a strong shared sense of common vision between the members in the project networks are key factors that explain how the animation industry can function without formal organizational structures.