Impact of networking on career development: Experience of high-flying women academics in Malaysia

The article reports a study the objective of which is to explore the experience in networking of a group of high-flying women academics (HFWAs) and its impact on career development. Data were gathered using in-depth interviews to 31 women professors who have been identified as high-flyers. Networking had brought them to fast upward career mobility. The themes that relate to the influence of networking to their career are: (i) graduate study paved the way for international networking; (ii) networking created win-win situation for both individuals and institutional partners; and (iii) personal factors contributing to networking. Findings are significant to other academics particularly women who are aspiring to be in the fast-track career.     

创业投资引导基金补偿机制对创投机构网络位置的影响研究

随着创投市场的网络化趋势越来越突出,提升网络位置成为创投机构的重要竞争战略之一。论文基于激励视角研究创业投资引导基金(简称引导基金)补偿机制对创投机构网络位置的影响。通过私募通数据库搜集大样本数据构造匹配样本,使用双重差分模型,研究结论表明:(1)引导基金参股时为私人资本提供收益补偿、固定收益补偿、或者收益补偿加上固定收益补偿会提升创投机构的网络位置,为私人资本提供亏损补偿、亏损补偿加上固定收益补偿、或者亏损补偿加上收益补偿加上固定收益补偿则不会提升创投机构的网络位置;(2)相比于参股国有背景创投机构而言,引导基金参股非国有背景创投机构时提供收益补偿、固定收益补偿、或者收益补偿加上固定收益补偿对网络位置的提升作用更明显。论文拓宽了创投机构提升网络位置的战略选择,对引导基金主管部门选择补偿机制也有一定的参考意义。     

家族企业网络化成长模式的主要影响因素及机制:基于中国东西部地区的实证研究

本文利用浙江、重庆等东西部省市家族企业的调查数据,实证检验了资源/战略需求、关系治理、权力结构、企业家特质对家族企业网络化成长模式的影响及机制,结果发现,资源需求对二级网络持久度有显著的负向影响,对二级网络开放度有显著的正向影响;合作机会对网络范围、二级网络强度有显著的正向影响;关系管理对一级网络强度、二级网络开放度有显著的正向影响;家族所有权对一级网络范围有显著的正向影响,对二级网络强度有显著的负向影响,家族管理权对一级网络范围有显著的正向影响;企业家年龄对一级网络强度有显著的负向影响,企业家行业工作经验对二级网络范围、网络持久度有显著的正向影响,企业家文化程度为大学本科的家族企业二级网络强度、二级网络开放度明显大于其它类型家族企业。研究结论对中国家族企业成长实践有重要指导意义。     

Organizational Networking in UK Biotechnology Clusters

Differences in growth patterns between regional clusters are often attributed to the extent to which they benefit from agglomeration, defined as the advantages that derive from being proximately located with other companies and institutions in the same industry. Foremost among these supply‐side externalities are the knowledge ‘spillover’ effects that can result from firms interacting extensively in both horizontal (complementary equivalent firms) and vertical (value chain) directions. The paper presents evidence from two surveys, one national and one regionally based, of networking patterns in UK biotechnology, focusing on how firms engage with other small firms, with large pharmaceuticals, and with research centres, and how far these interactions are regional, national or international in character. It suggests that where companies do collaborate, there is a tendency for the intensity of activity to increase as the location of the partner moves from the local to the international space. We evaluate the obvious interpretation that local linkages may be satisfactory for idea generation and early product development, but that national and international connections are more important for manufacturing, marketing and distribution activities. However, we conclude that a broader set of largely industry factors account for the networking patterns – namely, the science‐technology base, research funding, firms' business models, and competitor strategies in evolving markets – and that these matter more to clustered UK biotechnology firms than the cluster itself. These findings suggest a rethinking of cluster policy and the theoretical basis for clusters.     

Networking--getting to know more people

One of the first and often the most difficult tasks for job seekers is increasing their networks--the number of people they know. A large percentage of people get jobs because people knew them and thought they would be good at it. People must know who you are and what you do in order to recommend you for a job. Networking should be an ongoing process, so that when you need a new position, you have people you already know that you can contact.     

Estimating Social Influences from Social Networking Sites—Articulated Friendships versus Communication Interactions

Despite the ubiquity of social networking sites, the online social networking industry is in search of effective marketing strategies to better profit from their established user base. Social media marketing strategies build on the premise that the social network of online users can be predicted and social influences among online users can be estimated. However, the existence of various heterogeneous social interactions on social networking sites presents a challenge for social network prediction and social influence estimation. In this article we draw upon the literatures on self‐presentation on social networking sites and signaling in online social networking to categorize six heterogeneous online social interactions on social networking sites into two types—articulated friendships and communication interactions. This article provides empirical evidence for the differences between articulated friendships and communication interactions and the corresponding articulated and communication networks. In order to compare the impacts of the social influences based on these two networks, we utilize support vector machines to build a classifier to predict virtual community membership and we further estimate the marginal effects of these social influences using a two‐stage probit least squares method. We find significant explanatory power of social influences in predicting virtual community membership. Although the communication network is much sparser than the articulated network, social influences based on the communication network achieve similar performance as the articulated network. These findings provide important implications for social media marketing as well as the management of virtual communities.     

Merger mania: physicians beware

Corporate consolidations, mergers, and acquisitions would seem to provide immense promise in furthering the development of health networking because they affect the governance of entire organizations, rather than simply establishing revised arrangements for specific services or patients. Yet, a limited number of empirical studies have been published to date that explore whether hospital mergers actually improve access, reduce cost, or improve quality of care; and, among the reports available, the conclusions are somewhat equivocal. Physicians should be cautious of these mergers, since they seem to focus either on eliminating a direct competitor or on forming a large horizontally and vertically diversified health network that then can become a major player in gaining exclusivity in managed care contracting. With either of these merger strategies, there are antitrust-type concerns that competition among physicians and other providers will be significantly curtailed, and that consumers will end up with fewer choices in obtaining cost effective, quality patient care.     

A Neural Network-Based Method for Risk Factor Analysis of West Nile Virus

There is a lack of knowledge about which risk factors are more important in West Nile virus (WNV) transmission and risk magnitude. A better understanding of the risk factors is of great help in developing effective new technologies and appropriate prevention strategies for WNV infection. A contribution analysis of all risk factors in WNV infection would identify those major risk factors. Based on the identified major risk factors, measures to control WNV proliferation could be directed toward those significant risk factors, thus improving the effectiveness and efficiency in developing WNV control and prevention strategies. Neural networks have many generally accepted advantages over conventional analytical techniques, for instance, ability to automatically learn the relationship between the inputs and outputs from training data, powerful generalization ability, and capability of handling nonlinear interactions. In this article, a neural network model was developed for analysis of risk factors in WNV infection. To reveal the relative contribution of the input variables, the neural network was trained using an algorithm called structural learning with forgetting. During the learning, weak neural connections are forced to fade away while a skeletal network with strong connections emerges. The significant risk factors can be identified by analyzing this skeletal network. The proposed approach is tested with the dead bird surveillance data in Ontario, Canada. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.     

具有网络外部性的扩展Hotelling模型

将网络外部性引入线性运输成本下的Hotelling模型,研究了两家网络产品厂商首先选址,然后进行价格竞争的两阶段完全信息动态博弈问题,得到了厂商价格竞争均衡的存在性条件,推广了一般Hotelling模型的结论.由于网络外部性的存在,消费者效用是相互依赖的.网络产品的市场份额既是消费者选择的结果,又是消费者选择的依据.文章将交通流量分配技术和无穷维变分方法相结合,建立了刻画网络产品市场划分的模型——无穷维变分不等式,并研究了市场划分的存在性和唯一性问题.最后假定厂商定位在两端,分析了产品的网络外部性特征及单位运输成本对两个厂商竞争均衡情况的影响.     

Reliability evaluation of a multicast over coded packet networks

Network coding is a generalization of conventional routing methods that allows a network node to code information flows before forwarding them. While it has been theoretically proved that network coding can achieve maximum network throughput, theoretical results usually do not consider the stochastic nature in information processing and transmission, especially when the capacity of each arc becomes stochastic due to failure, attacks, or maintenance. Hence, the reliability measurement of network coding becomes an important issue to evaluate the performance of the network under various system settings. In this paper, we present analytical expressions to measure the reliability of multicast communications in coded networks, where network coding is most promising. We define the probability that a multicast rate can be transmitted through a coded packet network under a total transmission cost constraint as the reliability metric. To do this, we first introduce an exact mathematical formulation to construct multicast connections over coded packet networks under a limited transmission cost. We then propose an algorithm based on minimal paths to calculate the reliability measurement of multicast connections and analyze the complexity of the algorithm. Our results show that the reliability of multicast routing with network coding improved significantly compared to the case of multicast routing without network coding.     

Social Networking and Individual Perceptions: Examining Predictors of Participation

Social networking is a process and practice that draws people and organizations together in an electronic medium. This article explores social interaction-based theories to suggest a social networking participation model that may help organizations understand acceptance or rejection of participation. Responses from 191 public administrators were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM), focusing on relationships between participation and five constructs: perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived improvement potential (PIP), intra-organizational trust, and type of use. The study found favorable model fit statistics that support positive correlations between the latent variables examined and participation in social networking activities. The results demonstrate the potential of the survey instrument to serve as an adoption and participation model to predict and promote social networking activities as they relate to perceived performance improvement.     

企业信用内生网络模型及其演化研究

本文考虑上游企业和下游企业两个部门，通过构建企业内生网络模型研究企业间信用关联内在形成机制及其演化特征。通过对内生网络模型仿真研究，结果表明本文构建的模型重现了现实企业系统存在的一些特征：企业信用网络度分布服从幂律分布，该网络具有无标度特征；较长的合并周期则能更好地反映企业间信用关系，且随着合并周期变大，网络密度也显著增大；企业资产规模分布具有幂律尾部特征，企业资产增长率随时间演化逐渐呈收敛状，且其概率分布近似于正态分布。     

Managerial Networking and Stakeholder Support in Public Service Organizations

Resource dependence theory suggests that to function successfully, organizations must obtain certain resources controlled by actors in their environment. To do this effectively, managers often develop networking relationships with key stakeholder groups in order to make critical resources available. Managers in public service organizations, in particular, are frequently under great pressure to network with relevant actors from stakeholder groups in order to build support for service (co)production and legitimacy for strategic and operational decisions. To identify networking strategies which are conducive to stakeholder support, we explore the networking behaviour of over 1,000 English local government managers. Fuzzy cluster analysis identifies four distinctive, though inter-related types of managerial networking: technical, reputational, political, and tokenistic. The cluster membership functions from this analysis are used to examine the relationship between types of networking and stakeholder support in depth. The results of hierarchical regression analysis suggest that technically-orientated networking is the most conducive to stakeholder support, with tokenistic networking the least conducive.     

Cell-to-switch level planning in mobile wireless networks for efficient management of radio resources

A major step in effectively managing radio resources in a cellular network is to design an appropriate scheme for assigning cells to a location area (LA), serviced by a switch, and allocate resources for individual switches. However, this assignment is already proven in the literature to be an NP-hard problem [Merchant A, Sengupta B. Assignment of cells to switches in PCS networks. IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking 3(5) (1995) 521–6] that requires efficient heuristic search techniques for obtaining real-time solutions. This work presents a state-space search technique, which is a variant of best first search heuristic technique. The algorithm called the block depth first search (BDFS), allocates cells to switches during switch level resource planning. Under various simulated performance criteria, we compare the performance of the proposed technique with other similar procedures in the literature. Our results indicate that the BDFS outperforms the meta-heuristic procedures in terms of both efficiency and quality of solutions. Hence, we conclude that our proposed technique can be effectively used for switch level planning leading to an efficient management of scarce radio resource in cellular networks.     

The Importance of Compensating Strategic Network Board Members for Network Performance: A Contingency Approach

Firms in government‐supported strategic networks tend to rely on professional network board members for support and assistance. As such, two significant issues arise: should board members be compensated and under which circumstances is compensation more – or less – effective for network performance. Based on yearly panel data from 53 government‐supported strategic networks of small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises over a five‐year period, this study examines the effects of compensating network board members. Advocating for a contingency approach, we combine the agency and stewardship literatures to posit that the effects of compensation are moderated by contingency factors that stimulate either an agency or stewardship relationship between the network board and the networking firms. Our findings indicate that significant funding, network firms represented on the network board, and top‐down network formation stimulate board members to become agents rather than stewards. This therefore explains the higher effect of board member compensation under such conditions.     

Design Improvements for Message Propagation in Malleable Social Networks

This study presents the formal problem definition and computational analysis of the network design improvements for idea and message propagation in both enterprise and consumer social networks (ESN and CSN, respectively). Message propagation in social networks is impacted by how messages are seeded in the network, and by propagation characteristics of the network topology itself. It has been recognized that the propagation properties of these networks can be actively influenced by network design interventions, such as the deliberate creation of new connections. We address the problem of finding cost‐effective message seeding, and identifying potential new network connections that allow improved propagation in social networks with cascade propagation. We use the hop‐constrained minimum spanning tree (HMST) model to find the seeds and possible new connections that result in networks with improved propagation properties. Moreover, we present new heuristic algorithms that substantially improve the solution quality for the HMST problem. Computational results posit that the design improvements proposed by the HMST approach can greatly improve cascade propagation performance of the networks at low cost.     

Who Cares About Your Big Day? Impact of Life Events on Dynamics of Social Networks

With online social networking having revolutionized the way in which individuals communicate and interact with each other, there is heightened research interest in the dynamics of social networks. This article seeks to contribute to this stream of research by addressing the key question of the impact of major life events, such as getting married or graduating from college, on social network evolution. Consistent with prior studies on the evolution of individuals’ social networks, we specifically focus on two key attributes of an individual's network: indegree of ties and relational embeddedness. By longitudinally analyzing the network activities of a large‐scale online social network, we find that the indegree of ties increased significantly following a major life event, and that this impact was stronger for more active users in the network. Interestingly, we also find that the broadcast of major life events served to revive dormant ties as reflected by a decrease in embeddedness following a life event. We also found that one‐time life events such as weddings had a greater impact than recurring life events such as birthdays on the evolution of a user's social network. From a research perspective, our study contributes to existing research by focusing on a user's communication network as opposed to friendship network and by emphasizing how exogenous life events add a different dimension to user communication patterns. The importance of life events on social network evolution has important implications for practice as well by providing insights to advertisers as well as to social networking sites.     

Modeling Network Management: An Examination of Internal and External Strategies

Within the last decade scholars have begun to emphasize the importance of exploring management within an inter-organizational context (O’Toole and Laurence Public Administration Review 57(1):45-52, 1997; Agranoff and McGuire 1999; O’Toole and Meier Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 9(4): 505-526, 1999). These studies have demonstrated the importance of network management on organizational performance. However, McGuire (2002) argues that the literature on networking does not demonstrate the intricate activities of network management that lead to increased performance, asserting case studies are necessary to achieve this goal. This work uses large-n data and presents the concepts of internal and external networking as a framework for understanding how network management contributes to improved organizational performance.     

海外子公司东道国网络结构与网络学习效果——网络学习方式是调节变量吗

本文通过阐明网络位置对网络成员决策和资源获取的影响,提出了"位置嵌入"概念,由此把社会嵌入的"关系一结构"构成理论发展为"关系-位置-结构"构成理论.在此基础上,解析了海外子公司的东道国网络结构,分析了网络学习方式在东道国网络结构与网络学习效果间的调节效应,以123家跨国公司在华子公司为样本的实证检验发现:(1)探索型学习负向调节了关系嵌入强度与网络学习效果间的关系;(2)探索型学习正向调节了网络密度与网络学习效果间的关系;(3)利用型学习正向调节了网络密度与网络学习效果问的关系;(4)利用型学习正向调节了群体中心度与网络学习效果间的关系.     

Social Connections and Incentives in the Workplace: Evidence From Personnel Data

We present evidence on the effect of social connections between workers and managers on productivity in the workplace. To evaluate whether the existence of social connections is beneficial to the firm's overall performance, we explore how the effects of social connections vary with the strength of managerial incentives and worker's ability. To do so, we combine panel data on individual worker's productivity from personnel records with a natural field experiment in which we engineered an exogenous change in managerial incentives, from fixed wages to bonuses based on the average productivity of the workers managed. We find that when managers are paid fixed wages, they favor workers to whom they are socially connected irrespective of the worker's ability, but when they are paid performance bonuses, they target their effort toward high ability workers irrespective of whether they are socially connected to them or not. Although social connections increase the performance of connected workers, we find that favoring connected workers is detrimental for the firm's overall performance.