Business Associations and social capital

Cooperation and collaboration among firms is not a new phenomenon. Within the current competitive environment, it is widely recognized the distinctive role played by inter-firm cooperation (Anand, Khanna, 2000). The network literature – although confusing for the heterogeneity of the level of analysis implemented, the kind of relational properties studied and the particular techniques carried out – seems to agree on the relevance of socio-economic and strategic-organizational factors in the constitution of different forms of collaboration (Contractor & Lorange, 2002). Starting from this awareness, our work aims at exploring the role of business associations in stimulating collaborative attitudes. Specifically, business associations are viewed as one of the possible motivations that account for the adoption of collaborative behaviours among their members. Aiming at understanding the value of being inserted within an association network for its members, our study presents a results of research project on 797 firms associated to Confindustria Salerno, one of 103 Territorial Business Associations of the Confederation of Italian Industry (Confindustria).