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En studie av företagares uppfattning om personliga nätverk
AbstractPeople and organizations that network with one another have during the past decades, at a larger extent than before, replaced classical hierarchies. These networks have become increasingly important, as the globalisation has amplified the pressure for focused and flexibleorganizations. There is a risk of restraining the inventiveness of the firm and force customers and suppliers into cooperation by a too great commitment and dedication to the network. There are two sides to every penny, positive and negative aspects of networking.Concerning the negative approach to networking, there is relatively little theory present. The theory is regarded an emerging theory. Certain aspects have though been researched at a deeper lever than others. The aim of the research question of this thesis is the developing of the theory concerning negative aspects of networking in order to increase the understanding for the risks of personal networking among entrepreneurs. The research question is how entrepreneurs? concept of networking agrees with theory concerning the negative aspects of personal networking.To create further empirical foundation supporting the emerging theory, the study has been carried out by interviews with a number of entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurs have been selected by the method of snowballing and are present in the south of Sweden in companies ofvarious fields and sizes.On average the respondents have had a positive attitude to their personal networks, but have had views on aspects like the time concern, the risk of sharing information with the network and the risk of having faith in your personal network.Our thesis has contributed by validating the four theoretical aspects time, expectations, information and homogeneous/heterogeneous networking. The aspects concerning trust and different ways of networking were partly validated. The two aspects key persons and dependence were not validated.