The interplay of networks and firm performance within high-tech clusters

This chapter presents a cluster and entrepreneurship research which explains how performance differences between firms located within the same cluster can be explained by differences in social networks, thus contributing to the question of how the co-location of firms matters. It confirms the positive role of technology-partnering networks in the performance of cluster firms. The chapter demonstrates how reputation from a network perspective and information sourcing networks influence the development of technology-partnering networks. It addresses the questions of how certain types of networks influence firm performance as well as how a certain type of network can be developed through the development of other types of networking activities. The chapter accounts for the simultaneous influences of networks thus acknowledging the inherent complexity of inter-organizational networks. It contributes to understanding what drives firm heterogeneity within clusters. The chapter provides some new and more fine-grained insights into the role of inter-firm networks in entrepreneurial firm performance.