Small business activity and knowledge exchange in informal interfirm networks
研究技术型小企业如何通过非正式关系网络交换技术、市场和经营知识，发现企业的经济活动和知识战略影响其参与网络的程度，部分企业会正式化这种参与。
This article explores knowledge search strategies of technology-based small firms (TBSFs) and the role that informal and proximate relationships play in the development of knowledge networks, through which knowledge exchange occurs. Drawing on interfirm relationship and social network theory, we contend that TBSFs participate in informal networks to exchange technology, market and managerial knowledge, to the extent that these knowledge configurations facilitate acquisition of external knowledge critical for their learning processes by TBSFs. Results indicate that a firm’s engagement in the exchange of various sources of knowledge is directly related to its economic activity and strategic knowledge priorities, which shape the structural dimensions of interfirm informal networks. While informal networks remain informal, certain TBSFs formalize their participation as they obtain and combine knowledge resources that are important for their activity. In examining how different interests and roles impact participation in informal interfirm networks, this study contributes to the literature on small firms and collaborative relationships.