The Impact of Network Relational Characteristics on Emerging Small Manufacturing Organizations' Development and Linkages

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To advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare, this study focuses on the interactions and organizational development among emerging small manufacturing businesses to understand how they develop partnership in order to optimize operational and strategic capabilities to enhance their competitiveness. The investigation focuses on the evolution of innovative U.S. supply chain linkages among six emerging small manufacturing centers developing in rural Colorado communities. Aspects of apparel manufacturing are returning to the U.S. due to the increase in production prices and risks associated with international suppliers. This research aims to identify ways for small manufacturing businesses to effectively form networks and clusters to gain competitiveness in the market. Findings will have implications for multiple regions of the U.S. interested in cultivating collaborations among small-to-large manufacturing firms. The proposals aims to: 1) capture, at multiple levels of analysis, the phenomena involving organizational development of small manufacturers, regional clusters, and a formal network, 2) empirically test overlapping concepts from social capital, network, and innovation theories, and 3) establish a framework to explain how networking develops among emerging small firms. The scope this project involves the mixed-method study of how six emerging small manufacturing centers organize into two clusters, and then a single network. By focusing on cooperating ventures in which emerging organizations are embedded, the project will discover to what degree network relational characteristics provide a competitive advantage through knowledge creation, learning, and innovation adoption. Data collection involving observations, interviews, focus groups, and survey methods will provide further insights as to the impact of these characteristics on startup firms. The unit of analyses will include the center, cluster, network, and manufacturing levels. Qualitative and quantitative analyses will be conducted to understand the focal research question of how clusters and networks develop among small manufacturing organizations, and the implications of the clusters and the networks on their market competitiveness.