Title: The role of intermediate agents in stimulating knowledge transfer in regional inter-organisational networks: the case of a Brazilian shoes production horizontal network

Authors: Julio Araujo Carneiro-da-Cunha; João Luiz Passador; Cláudia Souza Passador; Pedro Lucas de Resende Melo

Addresses: Department of Sports Management, Nove de Julho University (UNINOVE), Av. Francisco Matarazzo, 612, Água Branca, 05001-100, São Paulo, Brazil ' Department of Management, School of Economics, Business and Accounting of RibeirãoPreto, University of São Paulo (FEA-RP/USP), Av. dos Bandeirantes, Cidade Universitária, 14040-900, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil ' Department of Management, School of Economics, Business and Accounting of RibeirãoPreto, University of São Paulo (FEA-RP/USP), Av. dos Bandeirantes, Cidade Universitária, 14040-900, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil ' Department of Management, Paulista University (UNIP), R. Dr. Bacelar, 1212, Vila Clementino, 04026-002 São Paulo, Brazil

Abstract: Inter-organisational local networks have become source of competitive advantage to immerse organisations when they create collaborative internal knowledge. Policy makers interact with these networks through intermediate agents to stimulate the collaborative activities across productive networks. This is particularly important to emerging economies, where specific regional competencies can be used to support competitive advantages. Based on this, a field research was conducted in the Birigüi shoes production Brazilian network in order to analyse the role of an intermediate agent in the knowledge transfer across network participants. It was verified that intermediate agents should better act as coordinators rather than enablers in networks with previous social legacy institutionalised.

Keywords: knowledge transfer; inter-organisational networks; intermediate agents; social capital; institutional theory; knowledge creation; networking; intellectual capital; inter-organisational agglomeration; horizontal networks; stimulation; Brazil; shoe production; local networks; collaboration; emerging economies; regional competencies.

DOI: 10.1504/IJENM.2014.066809

International Journal of Enterprise Network Management, 2014 Vol.6 No.2, pp.67 - 83

Received: 23 Dec 2013
Accepted: 12 Jul 2014

Published online: 14 Jan 2015 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article