Article: Industry Peer Networks: Constructive Collaboration for Effective Marketing and Management Practices Journal: Journal of Business and Management (JBM) 2013 Vol.19 No.2 pp.51 - 65 Abstract: With small businesses becoming increasingly important to economic growth and job creation, there must be new ways of structuring to take advantage of collaboration and to be able to compete against large firms. Industry peer networks (IPNs) have emerged to meet this challenge. This study investigates the processes and effectiveness of an IPN whose member small firms are located in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia. The findings suggest that the more socially embedded the IPN members are within their respective peer groups (i.e. organizing IPN-related activities, partnering with business endeavors, discussing and advising each other about business issues, and participating in socializing activities), the higher the perceived level of learning in marketing and management practices. The findings also suggest that the implementation of transformational leadership practices is partially mediated by the perceived level of management learning, but the width of the product portfolio was not mediated by the perceived level of marketing learning. Inderscience Publishers - linking academia, business and industry through research

Title: Industry Peer Networks: Constructive Collaboration for Effective Marketing and Management Practices

Authors: Ada Leung; Kyle Luthans; Susan Jensen; Huimin Xu

Addresses: Author address listing can be found in the "About the Authors" section at the end of the article.

Abstract: With small businesses becoming increasingly important to economic growth and job creation, there must be new ways of structuring to take advantage of collaboration and to be able to compete against large firms. Industry peer networks (IPNs) have emerged to meet this challenge. This study investigates the processes and effectiveness of an IPN whose member small firms are located in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia. The findings suggest that the more socially embedded the IPN members are within their respective peer groups (i.e. organizing IPN-related activities, partnering with business endeavors, discussing and advising each other about business issues, and participating in socializing activities), the higher the perceived level of learning in marketing and management practices. The findings also suggest that the implementation of transformational leadership practices is partially mediated by the perceived level of management learning, but the width of the product portfolio was not mediated by the perceived level of marketing learning.

Keywords: Industry peer networks; collaboration; marketing practices; management practices; small businesses.

DOI: 10.1504/JBM.2013.141210

Journal of Business and Management, 2013 Vol.19 No.2, pp.51 - 65

Published online: 05 Sep 2024 *

Title: Industry Peer Networks: Constructive Collaboration for Effective Marketing and Management Practices

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