IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wiw/wiwrsa/ersa03p235.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Measuring enterprises’ investments in social capital - a pilot study

Author

Listed:
  • Hans Westlund
  • Elin Nilsson

Abstract

Research on the impact of social capital on economic growth has mainly focused on civil society’s social capital. The social capital related to enterprises has received little attention. This paper aims at developing a method for measuring enterprises’ investments in social capital. We define enterprise-related social capital as social and economic networks in which enterprises intentionally and unintentionally invest and interact in. Certain components of these networks are open for ownership while others are not. Interaction in these networks generates network advantages and economic utility in individual firms as well as in the place/region in which they are located. Based on a division in internal and external social capital, we divide the latter in production-related, environment-related and market-related respectively. We differ between the networks’ links and the norms, values, etc that are distributed in the links by the nodes/enterprises. The study is delimited to measurement of the existence and structure of the links. The study shows that it is possible to measure enterprises’ investments (in money or time) in social capital. We also found some significant indications on connections between investments in social capital and the enterprises’ growth, however without being able to establish any casual relationship. Due to the limited number of participating enterprises these connections are merely indications.

Suggested Citation

  • Hans Westlund & Elin Nilsson, 2003. "Measuring enterprises’ investments in social capital - a pilot study," ERSA conference papers ersa03p235, European Regional Science Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa03p235
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www-sre.wu.ac.at/ersa/ersaconfs/ersa03/cdrom/papers/235.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Roberta Capello, 2002. "Spatial and Sectoral Characteristics of Relational Capital in Innovation Activity," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(2), pages 177-200, March.
    2. Henri L.F. de Groot & Peter Nijkamp & Roger R. Stough (ed.), 2004. "Entrepreneurship and Regional Economic Development," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3478.
    3. James E. Rauch, 2001. "Business and Social Networks in International Trade," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(4), pages 1177-1203, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ana Kopren & Hans Westlund, 2021. "Bridging versus Bonding Social Capital in Entrepreneurs’ Networks: The Case of Post-Conflict Western Balkans," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-18, March.
    2. Nijkamp, P. & Stough, R. & Sahin, M., 2009. "Impact of social and human capital on business performance of migrant entrepreneurs - a comparative dutch-us study," Serie Research Memoranda 0017, VU University Amsterdam, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Econometrics.
    3. Westlund, Hans & Calidoni-Lundberg, Federica, 2007. "THE CREATIVE CLASS AND SOCIAL CAPITAL - civil society, regional development and high-tech employment in Japan," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 112, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    4. Hans Westlund & Federica Calidoni, 2010. "The Creative Class, Social Capital And Regional Development In Japan," Review of Urban & Regional Development Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(2‐3), pages 89-108, July.
    5. Mediha Sahin & Peter Nijkamp & Roger Stough, 2011. "Impact of urban conditions on firm performance of migrant entrepreneurs: a comparative Dutch–US study," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 46(3), pages 661-689, June.
    6. Gudrun Kochendorfer-Lucius & Boris Pleskovic, 2009. "Berlin Workshop Series 2009 : Spatial Disparities and Development Policy," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2650.
    7. Roel Rutten & Hans Westlund & Frans Boekema, 2010. "The Spatial Dimension of Social Capital," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(6), pages 863-871, June.
    8. Sriya Iyer & Michael Kitson & Bernard Toh, 2005. "Social capital, economic growth and regional development," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(8), pages 1015-1040.
    9. Stanislaw Walukiewicz, 2011. "Measuring Social Capital and Proximimty," ERSA conference papers ersa10p309, European Regional Science Association.
    10. Malgorzata Gajowiak, 2013. "The Role Of Social Capital In The Activities Of Internationalized Food Processing Smes. Confrontation Of Theoretical Findings With Empirical Ones," Oeconomia Copernicana, Institute of Economic Research, vol. 4(4), pages 59-76, December.
    11. Chlebicka, Aleksandra & Fałkowski, Jan & Łopaciuk-Gonczaryk, Beata, 2014. "Grupy Producentów Rolnych A Kapitał Społeczny – Potencjalne Zależności," Village and Agriculture (Wieś i Rolnictwo), Polish Academy of Sciences (IRWiR PAN), Institute of Rural and Agricultural Development, vol. 3(164).
    12. Yongchao Zhang & Hans Westlund & Johan Klaesson, 2020. "Report from a Chinese Village 2019: Rural Homestead Transfer and Rural Vitalization," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-22, October.
    13. Stanislaw Walukiewicz & Aneta Wiktorzak, 2011. "Social Capital in Education," ERSA conference papers ersa10p632, European Regional Science Association.
    14. Getachew Ayalu & Aradom Gebrekidan Abbay & Hossein Azadi, 2023. "The role of micro- and small-scale enterprises in enhancing sustainable community livelihood: Tigray, Ethiopia," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(8), pages 7561-7584, August.
    15. Sibylle Puntscher & Christoph Hauser & Karin Pichler & Gottfried Tappeiner, 2014. "Social Capital and Collective Memory: A Complex Relationship," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(1), pages 116-132, February.
    16. Jiafeng Gu, 2024. "Family social capital and entrepreneurship in rural China: potential mediating mechanisms," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 57(4), pages 1-30, August.
    17. Carlos M. Jardon & Nilda C. Tañski & Xavier Martinez-Cobas, 2023. "Sources of knowledge for innovation capability in subsistence small businesses: a case of the wood sector in Argentina," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 70(3), pages 839-860, June.
    18. Hung Quang Doan & Francesca Masciarelli & Andrea Prencipe & Nam Hoang Vu, 2023. "Social capital and firm performance in transition economies," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 13(4), pages 751-780, December.
    19. Matteo Migheli, 2013. "Relational capital, profitability and access to credit: evidence from a sample of Italian small firms," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 60(2), pages 221-233, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. McCann, Philip & Arita, Tomokazu, 2006. "Clusters and regional development: Some cautionary observations from the semiconductor industry," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 157-180, June.
    2. Hans Westlund, 2009. "The Social Capital of Regional Dynamics: A Policy Perspective," Advances in Spatial Science, in: Charlie Karlsson & Ake E. Andersson & Paul C. Cheshire & Roger R. Stough (ed.), New Directions in Regional Economic Development, chapter 0, pages 121-141, Springer.
    3. Mariya Aleksynska & Giovanni Peri, 2014. "Isolating the Network Effect of Immigrants on Trade," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(3), pages 434-455, March.
    4. Anthony Briant & Pierre-Philippe Combes & Miren Lafourcade, 2014. "Product Complexity, Quality of Institutions and the Protrade Effect of Immigrants," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(1), pages 63-85, January.
    5. Theresa Kuchler & Monika Piazzesi & Johannes Stroebel, 2022. "Housing Market Expectations," CESifo Working Paper Series 9665, CESifo.
    6. Demet Yilmazkuday & Hakan Yilmazkuday, 2017. "The role of direct flights in trade costs," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 153(2), pages 249-270, May.
    7. Yuheng Lin & Dooruj Rambaccussing & Yu Zhu, 2024. "The impact of international students in the UK on the cultural goods trade," French Stata Users' Group Meetings 2024 29, Stata Users Group.
    8. Roy Allen & John Rehbeck, 2019. "Assessing Misspecification and Aggregation for Structured Preferences," University of Western Ontario, Departmental Research Report Series 20194, University of Western Ontario, Department of Economics.
    9. Carolina Lennon, 2008. "Trade in services and trade in goods: differences and complementarities," Working Papers halshs-00586223, HAL.
    10. Toru Kikuchi, 2010. "A simple model of foreign brand penetration under monopolistic competition," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 100(3), pages 235-245, July.
    11. Tineke Fokkema & Eralba Cela & Elena Ambrosetti, 2013. "Giving from the Heart or from the Ego? Motives behind Remittances of the Second Generation in Europe," International Migration Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(3), pages 539-572, September.
    12. Marcus Noland, 2005. "Affinity and International Trade," Working Paper Series WP05-3, Peterson Institute for International Economics.
    13. Javorcik, Beata S. & Özden, Çaglar & Spatareanu, Mariana & Neagu, Cristina, 2011. "Migrant networks and foreign direct investment," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(2), pages 231-241, March.
    14. Marina Murat & María Luisa Recalde & Pedro Gabriel Degiovanni, 2015. "The education networks of Latin America. Effects on trade during and after the cold war," Center for Economic Research (RECent) 113, University of Modena and Reggio E., Dept. of Economics "Marco Biagi".
    15. William R Kerr, 2018. "Heterogeneous Technology Diffusion and Ricardian Trade Patterns," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 32(1), pages 163-182.
    16. Bogang Jun & Aamena Alshamsi & Jian Gao & Cesar A Hidalgo, 2017. "Relatedness, Knowledge Diffusion, and the Evolution of Bilateral Trade," Papers 1709.05392, arXiv.org.
    17. U. Serdar Serdaroglu, 2019. "Institutional-Legal Crisis and Commercial Transformation in the 18th Century: British Levant Company Merchants in the Balkans," Proceedings of the Centre for Economic History Research, Centre for Economic History Research, vol. 4, pages 31-42, November.
    18. Misuraca, Roberta & Zimmermann, Klaus, 2024. "Migration and Consumption," MERIT Working Papers 2024-006, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    19. Fischer, Justina A.V., 2012. "Globalization and social networks," MPRA Paper 40404, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Maystre, Nicolas & Olivier, Jacques & Thoenig, Mathias & Verdier, Thierry, 2014. "Product-based cultural change: Is the village global?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(2), pages 212-230.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Theory

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa03p235. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Gunther Maier (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.ersa.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.