Brokerage and Closure

Almost everything that happens in a firm flows through informal networks builts by advice, coordination, cooperation, friendship, gossip, knowledge, and trust. In this book, Ron Burt builds upon his celebrated work on network analyses to explain how these informal networks functions and the role of network entrepreneurs who have amassed social capital. Burt shows that social capital is a critical element in business strategy. Who has it, how it works and how to develop it have become key questions as markets, organizations and careers become more and more dependent on informal discretionary relationships.

Burt convincingly shows how the process of brokerage across structural holes (i.e., connecting new dots) in networks combines with closure to influence social capital within the network. In particular, he argues that brokerage is the most valuable strategy for innovation and that brokerage correlates well with influence, among other things. It's his second book in his series on network analysis, between "Structural Holes" and "Neighbor Networks."

Summary is good, tnks!