Starting Up in Business Networks ─ Why Relationships Matter in Entrepreneurship

This book offers a novel perspective on starting-up new business ventures through examining the process by which they become part of the existing business environment. The book highlights the importance of inter-organizational business relationships. Asserting that new ventures need to interact and connect with customers and suppliers, alongside policy actors and universities, Starting up in Business Networks demonstrates how beginning a new venture demands initiating and developing business relationships. Noting a lack of prior research into the process by which start-ups embed into an existing business network, this book presents examples from countries such as Sweden, Italy, the Netherlands and China to analyse the emergence and evolution of start-up business networks.

Lise Aaboen is Associate Professor of Technology-Based Entrepreneurship at Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway. Her research interests include incubators, NTBFs, commercialization of technology-based ideas and early customer relationships. She has published in a range of journals such as Technovation, Industrial Marketing Management, and Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management.

Antonella La Rocca is a Research Fellow at Akershus University Hospital and Visiting Research Fellow at BI Norwegian Business School, Norway. Her research interests are in innovation, entrepreneurship and B2B Marketing. She has published in journals such as Industrial Marketing Management and IMP Journal, for which she is an editorial assistant.

Frida Lind is an Associate Professor in the Department of Technology Management and Economics, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden. Her research interests include innovation, start-ups and organizing in business networks. She has published in the Journal of Business Research and Industrial Marketing Management.

Andrea Perna is a Researcher in the Department of Engineering Sciences, Uppsala University, Sweden, and Assistant Professor in the Department of Management, Universita’ Politecnica delle Marche, Italy. His research interests include new business formation, innovation and CRM processes in B2B marketing. He has published in the Journal of Business Research and Industrial Marketing Management.

Tommy Shih is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Business Administration, Lund University, Sweden. His research involves the study of business networks, government policy, start-ups and innovation. He has previously published in The IMP Journal, Industrial Marketing Management and Journal of Strategy and Management.