emotional intensity, intimacy and reciprocal services between people. They are typically associated with high levels of trust and the flow of fine-grained information (Nahapiet and Ghoshal, 1998). Being embedded in a network can give rise to a form of trust known as relational trust, which develops over time and is based on continual reciprocity (Rousseau et al., 1998) – ‘I will do this for you now, but you will do something for me later’. The downside is that they are also likely to share similar contacts and information, much of which is therefore redundant (the ‘echo-chamber’ syndrome). Weak ties may be of short duration and low frequency but, like for example Chambers of Commerce; they enable the individual to draw upon information, advice and assistance from a large, diverse pool. Research design The research adopted a mixed method approach, combing both quantitative and qualitative data collection techniques (Tashakkori and Teddlie, 2010). Six exploratory focus groups were conducted with SMEs who had been in business for at least five years, selected to ensure maximum variation across the United Kingdom (UK) Government’s standard industrial sectors. Resultant themes, which we termed ‘triggers for success’ included maintaining adequate cash flow, engaging with traditional networks and social networks and learning orientation, were subsequently triangulated through a further focus group with a critical case sample of subject matter experts. These themes, along with the academic literature reviewed above, informed the online questionnaire. Survey Measures The questionnaire comprised 82 Likert style closed questions relating to entrepreneurial and learning orientations (derived from Wang, 2008) and a further 13 questions collecting
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