Social capital benchmarking system: Profiting from social capital when building network organizations

Abstract

In knowledge economy, companies and organizations build sustainable competitive advantages not only relying on their internal intellectual capital but also on the intellectual capital of other companies, organizations and institutions and specifically on those of the cluster, microcluster or territory where the company is located. This kind of intellectual capital, basically external and of a relational nature is one of the main constituents of the networked organization and from now on will be called as Social Capital because it is embedded in the social fabric (texture) of the nearby environment. Social Capital Benchmarking System is both a new management method and a new management tool, that identifies, audits and benchmarks the resources and capabilities or the social capital, existing in alternative cluster locations that are necessary to develop the specific network organization that each particular business model requires. The system has been successfully piloted in five European enterprises.