Neighbor Networks: Competitive Advantage Local and Personal [NOOK Book]

Be the first to write a review

Overview

There is a moral to this book, a bit of Confucian wisdom often ignored in social network analysis: "Worry not that no one knows you, seek to be worth knowing."This advice is contrary to the usual social network emphasis on securing relations with well-connected people. Neighbor Networks examines the cases of analysts, bankers, and managers, and finds that rewards, in fact, do go to people with well-connected colleagues. Look around your organization. The individuals doing well tend to be affiliated with ...
See more details below
Neighbor Networks: Competitive Advantage Local and Personal

Available on NOOK devices and apps  
  • Nook Devices
  • NOOK HD/HD+ Tablet
  • NOOK
  • NOOK Color
  • NOOK Tablet
  • Tablet/Phone
  • NOOK for Windows 8 Tablet
  • NOOK for iOS
  • NOOK for Android
  • NOOK Kids for iPad
  • PC/Mac
  • NOOK for Windows 8
  • NOOK for PC
  • NOOK for Mac
  • NOOK Study
  • NOOK for Web

Want a NOOK? Explore Now

NOOK Book (eBook)
$12.64
BN.com price
(Save 45%)$22.99 List Price

More About This Book

Overview

There is a moral to this book, a bit of Confucian wisdom often ignored in social network analysis: "Worry not that no one knows you, seek to be worth knowing."This advice is contrary to the usual social network emphasis on securing relations with well-connected people. Neighbor Networks examines the cases of analysts, bankers, and managers, and finds that rewards, in fact, do go to people with well-connected colleagues. Look around your organization. The individuals doing well tend to be affiliated with well-connected colleagues.However, the advantage obvious to the naked eye is misleading. It disappears when an individual's own characteristics are held constant. Well-connected people do not have to affiliate with people who have nothing to offer. This book shows that affiliation with well-connected people adds stability but no advantage to a person's own connections. Advantage is concentrated in people who are themselves well connected.This book is a trail of argument and evidence that leads to the conclusion that individuals make a lot of their own network advantage. The social psychology of networks moves to center stage and personal responsibility emerges as a key theme. In the end, the social is affirmed, but with an emphasis on individual agency and the social psychology of networks. The research gives new emphasis to Coleman's initial image of social capital as a forcing function for human capital.This book is for academics and researchers of organizational and network studies interested in a new angle on familiar data, and as a supplemental reading in graduate courses on social networks, stratification, or organizations. A variety of research settings are studied, and diverse theoretical perspectives are taken. The book's argument and evidence are supported by ample appendices for readers interested in background details.
Read More Show Less

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780191610097
  • Publisher: OUP Oxford
  • Publication date: 1/14/2010
  • Sold by: Barnes & Noble
  • Format: eBook
  • File size: 12 MB
  • Note: This product may take a few minutes to download.

Meet the Author

Ronald Burt is the Hobart W. Williams Professor of Sociology and Strategy at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He studies the social structure of competitive advantage in careers, organizations, and markets. He is the author of Structural Holes: The Social Structure of Competition, (Harvard University Press, 1992) and Brokerage and Closure: An Introduction to Social Capital, (Oxford University Press, 2005). He earned a bachelor's degree in social and behavioral science from Johns Hopkins University in 1971, a master's degree in sociology from the State University of New York at Albany in 1973, and a PhD in sociology from the University of Chicago in 1977. He has been on the faculty at INSEAD, Columbia University, SUNY at Albany, and the University of California at Berkeley. He took a leave of absence from Chicago to work at Raytheon Company as the Vice President of Strategic Learning.

Read More Show Less

Table of Contents

List of Figures xv

List of Tables xix

1 Introduction 1

People You Know versus the People They Know 2

So What? 6

Overview of the Book 8

Part I Establishing Secondhand Brokerage 17

2 Process Clues in Network Spillover 19

Direct Access to Structural Holes 23

Indirect Access to Structural Holes 30

Possible Returns to Indirect Access 39

Summary 56

3 Balkanized Networks 59

Product Launch Network 59

Supply-Chain Organization 72

Summary 79

4 More Connected Networks 80

A Human Resources Organization 80

HR Returns to Brokerage 83

Two Divisions in Financial Services 85

Banker Returns to Brokerage 91

Analyst Returns to Brokerage 93

Conclusions 99

Part II Testing the Perimeter 115

5 Industry Networks 117

Direct Access to Structural Holes 117

Indirect Access to Structural Holes 132

Conclusion 142

6 Closure and Stability 151

Social Chaos in Financial Services 153

Direct and Indirect Embedding 155

Reputation Stability 161

Network Decay 171

Conclusions 179

7 Mishpokhe, Not 192

Inside and Outside Brokerage 192

Why this Chapter 194

Network Diagnostics Indicating a Diversity Problem 195

Hierarchy is the Active Ingredient 203

Strategic Partners and Partner Networks 208

Conclusion 213

Part III Exploring Implications 219

8 Bent Preferences 221

Agency in Networks 221

Perception in Network Context 227

Network Defines Peers 247

Perception Defines the Network 268

Summary 279

Appendices 281

A Measuring the Network 281

B Measuring Access to Structural Holes 293

C Measuring Analyst Accuracy 305

D Industry Networks 308

E Means, Standard Deviations, and Correlations 318

F Network Weights for the Organization in Figure 8.5 324

G Denning Network Peers 329

References 366

Index 387

Read More Show Less

Customer Reviews

Be the first to write a review
( 0 )
Rating Distribution

5 Star

(0)

4 Star

(0)

3 Star

(0)

2 Star

(0)

1 Star

(0)

Your Rating:

Review Guidelines
Add Recommendations
Your Name: Create a Pen Name or

Barnes & Noble.com Review Rules

Our reader reviews allow you to share your comments on titles you liked, or didn't, with others. By submitting an online review, you are representing to Barnes & Noble.com that all information contained in your review is original and accurate in all respects, and that the submission of such content by you and the posting of such content by Barnes & Noble.com does not and will not violate the rights of any third party. Please follow the rules below to help ensure that your review can be posted.

Reviews by Our Customers Under the Age of 13

We highly value and respect everyone's opinion concerning the titles we offer. However, we cannot allow persons under the age of 13 to have accounts at BN.com or to post customer reviews. Please see our Terms of Use for more details.

What to exclude from your review:

Please do not write about reviews, commentary, or information posted on the product page. If you see any errors in the information on the product page, please send us an email.

Reviews should not contain any of the following:

  • - HTML tags, profanity, obscenities, vulgarities, or comments that defame anyone
  • - Time-sensitive information such as tour dates, signings, lectures, etc.
  • - Single-word reviews. Other people will read your review to discover why you liked or didn't like the title. Be descriptive.
  • - Comments focusing on the author or that may ruin the ending for others
  • - Phone numbers, addresses, URLs
  • - Pricing and availability information or alternative ordering information
  • - Advertisements or commercial solicitation

Reminder:

  • - By submitting a review, you grant to Barnes & Noble.com and its sublicensees the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right and license to use the review in accordance with the Barnes & Noble.com Terms of Use.
  • - Barnes & Noble.com reserves the right not to post any review -- particularly those that do not follow the terms and conditions of these Rules. Barnes & Noble.com also reserves the right to remove any review at any time without notice.
  • - See Terms of Use for other conditions and disclaimers.
Search for Products You'd Like to Recommend

Recommend other products that relate to your review. Just search for them below and share!

Create a Pen Name

Your Pen Name is your unique identity on BN.com. It will appear on the reviews you write and other website activities. Your Pen Name cannot be edited, changed or deleted once submitted.

 
Your Pen Name can be any combination of alphanumeric characters (plus - and _), and must be at least two characters long.

Continue Anonymously
    If you find inappropriate content, please report it to Barnes & Noble
    Why is this product inappropriate?
    Comments (optional)