The nature of networking in small firms by Aodheen O’Donnell
Aodheen O’Donnell is a Lecturer in Communication and
Advertising at the School of Communication, University of Ulster,
Newtownabbey, UK.
ABSTRACT
For some time, researchers at the marketing/entrepreneurship interface have employed the concepts of networks and business”. More recently, attempts have been made to show how the process of networking contributes to small firmmarketing. The overall research study on which this paper is based aimed to show how networking contributes to marketing. This paper focuses on a specific objective of the overall research study, namely an understanding of the process of small firm networking. It reviews previous research into the concept of networking and demonstrates how the process of networking can be captured as a number of dimensions along which entrepreneurial networking may vary. The paper then explains that while previous research has allowed a conceptual framework of small firm networking to be developed, further empirical research is merited and an entirely appropriate type of research is of a qualitative nature.
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