Autor(es):
Salavisa, Isabel
; Sousa, Cristina
; Fontes, Margarida
Data: 2011
Identificador Persistente: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.9/1428
Origem: Repositório do LNEG
Descrição
This paper addresses the role of networks in the organisation of two different knowledge intensive sectors -
biotechnology and software. Its main aim is to identify and explain the differences in the architecture of the
networks, formal and informal, mobilised to access resources and competences by young entrepreneurial
firms in those two sectors in Portugal. Then it discusses the diversity of the actual network topologies in the
light of their contribution to the organisation of those sectors, taking into account their specific
environment. For this purpose, it applies a methodology that permits to assemble a vast array of data
capturing the nature and contents of the range of relationships through which key innovation resources
flow into the firms. The results show that, when a detailed analysis is carried out, significant inter-sectoral
differences emerge, both in the network diagrams and in the measures of composition and structure. We
argue that those different topologies make sense regarding the empirical literature and shed light on the
specific organisation of the sectors, with their strengths, weaknesses and policy-driven influences.