DIVISON OF LABOUR, SOCIAL NETWORKS AND INTANGIBLE RESOURCES: THE ITALIAN CASE OF NETWORK BUSINESS CREATION

The paper underlines the division of labour principle for understanding the development of the entrepreneurial process within a social network; the principal background premise is that the two crucial factors affecting the entrepreneur when he is creating a new business are his previous employment (and so his skills, competencies, knowledge) and the advice and assistance he receives by his social environments. The aim of the paper is to specify, therefore, a conceptual proposal, based upon the analysis of the division of labour principle, evidencing that intangible resources as social network capital and human entrepreneurial capital are the critical levers for the creation of new business within a reticular business environment. For enhancing empirically such proposal, the “Industrial District Model”, particularly spread in the Italian economy, provides a useful example of how these assumptions work in a real industrial network.