Introduction

This paper is the result of a literature study for the course Alliances, Mergers and Networks at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam and is written to give an insight in the relationship between network roles and the level of direct and indirect network ties.

Over the past years many research has been done on organizational networks. Resulting, in the current literature there is a lot to find about networks, the actors and the different types of ties which they exist from. It is a frequently studied subject that networks can stimulate innovativeness. There is actually not much known about the relationship between the level of the types of ties and the different roles that organization can fulfil within an innovation network.

With this managerial paper I attempt to make a contribution to this subject by providing clear insight in current literature and provide (empirical) evidence for the relationship between (innovation) network roles and network ties.

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The outcome of the paper is a contribution to the existing literature in the form of a managerial model.

The research question for this paper is: What roles can actors fulfil in an innovation network given the amount of direct- and indirect ties?

This paper is structured in a way that a theoretical background on networks and entrepreneurship follows this introduction. This section is ended with a managerial model. After this theoretical background some empirical examples are provided. The paper will be ended with a conclusion and discussion. A list of used references is attached at the end of this paper.

Theoretical background

This section provides a theoretical framework that will be used to explain and define the concepts of (innovation) network, types of ties and the divers network roles that organizations can fulfil. It will be concluded with a managerial model that links...