Structural Holes: The Social Structure of Competition

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Harvard University Press, 1992 - Business & Economics - 313 pages
Ronald Burt describes the social structural theory of competition that has developed through the last two decades. The contrast between perfect competition and monopoly is replaced with a network model of competition. The basic element in this account is the structural hole: a gap between two individuals with complementary resources or information. When the two are connected through a third individual as entrepreneur, the gap is filled, creating important advantages for the entrepreneur. Competitive advantage is a matter of access to structural holes in relation to market transactions.
 

Contents

The Social Structure of Competition Opportunity and Capital
8
Information
13
Structural Holes
18
Control and the Tertius Gaudens
30
Entrepreneurs
34
Secondary Holes
38
Structural Autonomy
44
Summary
45
Institutional Holes
148
Selecting a Network
157
Summary
163
Weighing Alternatives
166
Causal Order
173
PlayerStructure Duality Structural Unit of Analysis
181
Players and Structures
185
Escape from Attributes
186

Formalizing the Argument Network Data
50
Redundancy
51
Constraint
54
Hole Signature
65
Structural Autonomy
71
Summary
81
Turning a Profit Product Networks and Market Profit
82
The Study Population
85
Hole Effects
91
Market Hole Signatures
100
Summary
110
Weighing Alternatives
111
Getting Ahead Contact Networks and Manager Achievement
115
The Study Population
118
Hole Effects
131
Hierarchy
140
No Escape
190
Summary
192
Commit and Survive Holes and Heterogeneity
195
Interface and the Commit Hypothesis
197
Population Ecology and the Survival Hypothesis
208
Summary
225
Strategic Embedding and Institutional Residue
228
The Other Tertius
229
Strategy Hypothesis
236
Formal Organization as Social Residue
238
Personality as Emotional Residue
251
Summary
264
Notes
271
References
299
Index
311
Copyright

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About the author (1992)

Ronald S. Burt is Professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

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