HOW SOCIAL CAPITAL HELPS SMALL ENTERPRISE?: IMPLICATIONS FOR REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Öz

Presenting findings from a sample survey carried among manufacturing small and medium sized enterprises in Kayseri Sub-Region (TR72 – Sivas, Kayseri and Yozgat), this study attempts to understand whether and how social capital has an impact on small firms’ performance. Besides, the study goes further to bring into question the effectiveness of different types of social capital, norms and networks and how social capital is created at local level. Social capital is measured at two different (potential and actual) levels. Results of our analysis point to the fact that measuring social capital at its “actual” level might be more useful than measuring it as a “potential”. Our findings suggest that firms perform better, if they enjoy higher levels of collective action and can reduce their transaction costs through social relations

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Regional development, Social capital, trust, collective action, networks, SMEs, Sivas, Kayseri, Yozgat.

Kaynakça

1. Boschma, R.A. (2005), “Social Capital and Regional Development: An Empirical Analysis of the Third Italy”, (in: Boschma, R.A. and Kloosterman, R.C. - Eds., Learning from Clusters: A Critical Assessment), Netherl: Springer, pp.139-168.
2. Burt, R.S. (1992), Structural Holes, Cambridge: Harvard UP.
3. Coleman, J.S. (1990), Foundations of Social Theory, Cambridge: Harvard UP.
4. Dasgupta, P. (2005), “Economics of social capital”, The Economic Record, Vol. 81, No. 255, pp –21.
5. DPT (2005), İllerin Sosyo-Ekonomik Gelişmişlik Sıralaması Araştırması: 2003. http://www.dpt.gov.tr [Accessed 01.06.2009]
6. Erselcan, F., Kutlar, A., Erdem, E. & Doganoglu, F. (2009). “Social Capital and Economic
7. Performance of SME’s: A Case Study from Turkey”. Paper submitted at the European Conference on Intellectual Capital, 28-29 April 2009, Haarlem, Netherlands.
8. Fafchamps, M. and Minten B. (1999), “Relationships and traders in Madagascar”, Journal of development studies, Vol 35, No. 6, pp1-35.

9. Foley, M.W. and Edwards, B. (1999). “Is It Time to Disinvest in Social Capital?” Journal of
10. Public Policy, Vol 19, No. 2, pp 141-173. Glaeser, E.L., Laibson, D. ve Sacerdote, B. (2000). “The economic approach to social capital”
11. National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) Working P. 7728.
12. Granovetter, M. (1985), “Economic action and social structure: the problem of embeddedness”,
13. American journal of sociology, Vol. 91, No. 3, pp 481-510. Koç, M. ve Ferneding, K.A. (2007), “The consequences of internet café use on Turkish college students’ social capital”, The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology-TOJET, July , Vol. 6, No.3, Article 9.
14. Knorringa, P. and van Staveren, I. (2006), “Social capital for industrial development: operationalizing the concept”, Report for COMPID Research Prog., Austria: UNIDO.
15. Lin, N. (1999), “Building a Network Theory of Social Capital”, Connections, Vol. 22, No. 1, pp 51.
16. Paldam, Martin and Tiggaard Svendsen, G. (2004), “Social capital and economics”, (in: Flap, H. and Völker, B. (Eds.), Creation and returns of social capital; a new research program), London: Routledge, pp.231-253.
17. Putnam, R. Leonardi, R. and Nanetti, R.Y. (1993), Making democracy work: Civic traditions in modern Italy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
18. Putnam, R.D. (1995), “Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capital”, Journal of Democracy, Vol. 6, No.1, pp. 65-78.
19. Sabatini, F. (2006), “Social capital, labour precariousness and the economic performance: An empirical assessment of the strength of weak ties in Italy” Facoltà di Economia di Forlì, Working Paper 26.06.2007.
20. Secor, A.C. and O’Loughlin, J. (2005), Social and political trust in İstanbul and Moscow: A comparative analysis of individual and neighbourhood effects. Royal Geog.Soc. http://www.uky.edu/AS/Geography/faculty/secoroloughlin2005.pdf [Acc. 3.8.2009]
21. STB-KOSGEB (2006), Bölgesel Kalkınma Araştırma Raporu: TR72 Kayseri Alt Bölgesi, Kayseri,
22. Sivas, Yozgat. Ankara: Sanayi ve Ticaret Bakanlığı. WVS (2009), World Values Survey 1981-2008, Official Aggregate v.20090901. World Values
23. Survey Association. http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org, [Acc. 12.09.2009]
24. Woolcock, M. (2001), “The place of social capital in understanding social and economic outcomes”, ISUMA Canadian Journal of Policy Research, Vol. 2, pp.11-17.