B U S I N E S S N E T W O R K I N G : M A N A G I N G S O C I A L N E T W O R K S F O R B U S I N E S S S U C C E S S

COURSE OVERVIEW

Nobody succeeds alone. In most life situations, things we do require the cooperation of a wide variety of people. Our relationships and social network, being the totality of our relationships, are central to the effectiveness and success of our actions. Naturally, most of us acknowledge that social networks are important when it comes to what gets done in organizations. But do we know exactly how our network impacts the outcome of our work? Managers often believe that network effectiveness depends on the number and the quality of their immediate contacts. In reality, it is more important to take a closer look at the pattern of direct and indirect relationships among these contacts: it is the people you know and the connections to people whom you do not know (yet!) that give you access to resources and getting things done. The social network with its distinctive nature of relationships, structure, and resources is the social capital which can be utilized to enhance the competitive advantage of individuals and organizations.

Given the importance of social networks and their sometime counter-intuitive influence on business effectiveness, the main objective of this course is to introduce concepts and findings in the areas of social capital and social network analysis in order to advance students’ understanding on how to effectively manage network relations and structures to achieve success in business.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. To appreciate the direct and indirect impact of social networks in social and business affairs

2. To understand how to measure characteristics of social networks and assess the social capital that associates with difference structures of social network

3. To understand the different strategies to build the network of social relationships that constitute an individual’s social network/capital

4. To apply the ideas of social network in business such as entrepreneurship, organizational innovation, and social media marketing

5. To understand and analyze “intra” and “inter” organizational relations from a network perspective

6. To understand the economic and political implications of the networks that link businesses, families and political organizations.

COURSE OUTLINE

PART 1: GENERAL THEORIES OF SOCIAL NETWORKSSession 1. Introduction of network theorySession 2. Introduction to Social Capital & Social Network Analysis

PART 2: ARCHITECTURE OF SOCIAL NETWORKSSession 3. Building effective social networksSession 4. The architecture of social network – Closure and Brokerage

PART 3: NETWORK STRATEGIESSession 5. Applications of Social Network Analysis (SNA) in business & managementSession 6. Managing inter-organizational relations Session 7. Understanding and using virtual networks – social mediaSession 8. Social networks and entrepreneurship

PART 4: NETWORKS OF CAPITAL & POWERSession 9. The social and institutional dimensions of social networks – Interlocking directorate

studiesSession 10. The Network Economy: Business Groups in Asia

COURSE RUNDOWN

Teaching Dates/session

Topics and activities

Day ONE

AM

Discussion: Introduction to network theory in general

Activity: Video on the discovery of network theory

Reading: Small World Networks and Management Science Research

Day ONE

PM

Discussion: Introduction to Social Capital Theory and Social Network Analysis

Activity: Practical on Social Network Analysis using UCINET

Reference: UCINET User Guide

Day TWO

AM

Discussion: Building effective networks

Activity: Video on the Science of Persuasion

Readings: (a) Harnessing the Science of Persuasion (b) Improving the Quality of Conversation (c) On the Intricacies of Chinese Guanxi

Day TWO

PM

Discussion: The architecture of social networks – Brokerage and Closure

Case Study: Heidi Roizen (please check out her web-site too) Reference: The Network Structure of Social Capital - #1 download from the Web in ‘List of further Readings’

Readings: (a) How Leaders Create and Use Networks (b) How to Build your Networks

Day THREE

AM

Discussion: Application of Social Network Analysis (SNA) on Business and Management

Activity: Demonstration of actual application of SNA in business and in class

Readings: (a) How to invest in Social Capital (b) Better Sales Network

Day THREE

PM

Discussion: Managing inter-organizational relations

Case Study: Proactive Medicare

Reading: Finding, Forming and Performing: Creating Networks for Discontinuous Innovation

Day FOUR

AM

Discussion: Virtual networks – Social dimension of doing business online Activity: (a) Video on Social Media (b) Social Media exercise

References: (a) Book – Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed By Social Technologies

Day FOUR

PM

Discussion: Social Network and Entrepreneurship

Activity: case study on The Entrepreneur’s Network as a Source of Resources

References: to be distributed

Day FIVE

AM

Discussion: The social and institutional dimensions of social networks - Interlocking directorate studies

Activity: (a)Video on Network Governance (b) Demonstration of Interlocking Directorates Networks

Reading: Financial Networks and Informal Banking in China

Day FIVE

PM

Discussion: The Network Economy – Business Groups in Asia

Activity: Presentation of End-of Term Project plan

Reading: *Global Strategies Lessons from Japanese and Korean Business Groups

FORMAT AND TEACHING METHODS

The course will be highly interactive and consists of a mix of case studies, video presentations, in-class discussions of current research and practice, self-assessment exercises, and short in-class projects. A final course project will ask student to apply what they learned during the course in a real-life situation.

A course-pack of required readings and cases will be provided to students before the course starts.

PRE-REQUISITES AND INPUT REQUIRED

There are no pre-requisites for attending this course. However, students will be required to bring their notebooks to all sessions and to install 60-day trial versions of UCINET and NETDRAW software packages for social network analysis before the first session. The software can be downloaded here: http://www.analytictech.com/downloaduc6.htm. Students will be required to learn the basic use of the software in order to carry out course projects.

Students may also like to browse the website www.orgnet.com.

ASSIGNMENTS

There will be three types of assignments to complete during the course:

1. End- of-Course INDIVIDUAL OR GROUP project

Students, individually or in small groups, will apply network analysis concepts and techniques for the explanation of management/business phenomenon and/or identification of business opportunities and applications in real-life situations. These situations could include the relationships in their personal life/career, the work and social organizations they are affiliated with and the actual network of business relations of their companies/organizations. The students may also use databases given by the instructors or acquired/generated by them.

Students may choose one of the following projects

a. Identify the social network of a key group(s) of employees/individuals (e.g. the top management team or project teams) in an organization by administering a network

analysis questionnaire. Discuss the management issues that could be understood and/or resolved by a review of and/or action on the social network.

b. Promote a product/business/social cause with the use of not less than 4 social media. (You have to identify and/or make assumptions about the ‘technographic’ profile of the media users.)

c. Analysis of social capital or power of business and social organizations using the position/resource generator or archival data.

2. Short in-class GROUP projects

There will be 2-3 short group projects for students to work on during the class. These may include: (i) assessment of individual’s and the student team’s social capital; (ii) creating entrepreneurial and/or business application with of on-line social networking tools and (iii) analysis of network data from a database. ONLY ONE of these will be assessed

3. Case studies

There will be THREE full-length case studies. Each student team is required to prepare an analysis report for each case study before class discussion.

ASSESSMENT

- Case analysis reports (group) 30%

- Short in-class projects (group) 10%

- Course project (individual or group) 40%

- Contribution to class discussion (individual) 20%

- Total 100%

ASSIGNMENT EVALUATION CRITERIA

C – Assignment reflects the student(s) barely understands the basic concepts

B – Assignment reflects the student(s) understand the basic concepts; is able to present them in his/her own words logically and apply them in real-life situation realistically; with original thinking and critical analysis

A – All of B above AND with substantial and convincing original thinking and critical analysis