Network management in emergent high-tech business contexts : Critical capabilities and activities

Due to their inherent uncertainty, emerging high-tech business fields require a unique set of network management capabilities. Drawing from the dynamic capabilities literature and the networking capability literature, we develop a framework for network management in such environments. The framework consists of three interrelated capabilities – context handling, network construction, and network position consolidation. A longitudinal case study of a start-up company in the smart energy sector validates and provides an illustrative understanding of the three capabilities. The findings identify how they are enacted through a portfolio of activities, providing a microfoundational insight into how a focal actor in an entrepreneurial and explorative manner navigates and manages a business field in the making. Our research contributes a novel conceptualization of network management capabilities with an explicit focus on attracting, establishing and managing relationships in the complex and uncertain environment of emerging high-tech fields. In addition, our research offers guidance to managers with respect to the capabilities they need to galvanize and coalesce actors in an emerging business network.