Managing social capital

According to A. Baraniecka, managing social capital in a supply chain... 

It is necessary to use both a macroeconomic and a microeconomic approach to social capital. All dimensions of social capital affect supply chain management. Social capital in macroeconomic perspective constitutes external conditions of supply chain operations. A microeconomic perception of social capital refers to the social capital of the supply chain itself and individual companies. It forms a part of internal supply chain potential. Social capital seems to be a binder of supply chain initiatives. Due to its large scale and the strength of its impact one should consider social capital as one of the factors influencing the selection of supply chain configuration with costs of operation and perspectives for future development in mind. 

Florin, J., Lubatkin, M., Schulze, W. 2003. A social capital model of high-growth ventures. Academy of Management journal, 46 374—384. 

The essence of strategic leadership managing human and social capital, journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, 9(1) 3-15. 

The opportunity for industry today is to understand its impact on stakeholders, anticipate changing societal expectations, and use its capacity for innovation to create additional business value from superior social and environmental performance. Capitalizing on this opportunity requires that companies apply the same systematic discipline in managing social and environmental performance as they do in managing other aspects of business performance. 

J. Pretty, Social Capital and the Collective Management of Resources, Science, 302(5652), 1912-1914 (2003). 

A key proposition of the social capital theory of turnover costs is that turnover reduces the level of collective goal focus and shared trust (Leana and van Buren 1999). Thus a vacancy which has prompted the employment of a new employee will have had a negative impact on tmst within the workplace. The same argument can be applied when a new employee is acquired due to an increased need for human capital. Therefore there is always going to be a tmst development process associated with the arrival of a new employee. The new employee will develop more or less tmst in management, supervisors and co-workers, and management, supervisors and co-workers will develop more or less tmst in the new employee (Jeffcott et al. 2006). A new employee will also develop more or less tmst in the systems and processes of the organization, as well as in the equipment they are asked to use to complete their work. 

Supply Chain Policy Demand Shaping Contract Management Corporate Social Responsibility Revenue Management Working Capital Management Contract Management... 

Nahapiet, J. and Ghoshal, S. (1998), "Social capital, intellectual capital, and the organizational advantage," Academy of Management Review, 23 (2). 242-66. 

When discussing these limitations, associated with little interest in social capital on the basis of the theory and practice of supply chain management, it is worth analysing all dimensions of social capital affecting supply chain management. This means that it is necessary to refer to both the macroeconomic approach to social capital, wherein it constitutes external conditioning of supply chain operation, and the microeconomic approach (social capital of the supply chain itself and individual companies), in which social capital forms a part of internal supply chain potential. 

In the context of these tendencies, the extra-economic approach and definitions of social capital have begun to appear in the management literature also, the terms external and internal social capital have been coined. Researchers and practitioners have noticed a new dimension to social capital that is different from macroeconomic or social capital in that businesses may form it any way they want, while adjusting it to their vision of strategic development. 

What is extremely important to recognise within the microeconomic approach to social capital discussed above, is that the development or modification of a company s social capital is a process that can be planned, organised and controlled. This means that a company s social capital can be managed. This conclusion is significant for the future of social capital as an increasingly important factor determining the development of companies and supply chains. 

A supply chain, considered subjectively as a group of companies and objectively as a group of processes and resources, is influenced by the two aforementioned categories of social capital (social capital of the environment and social capital of companies comprising the supply chain). This means, when managing a supply chain, that one needs to take accoimt of social capital both in the assessment and in the planning and verification of actions undertaken in the chain. Unfortunately, as observation of market behaviours and research carried out by the authors show, companies are not interested in the level and type of social capital in any dimension. Meanwhile, environmental social capital does form the background of many decisions undertaken in the supply chain, and the... 

The identification of the level of social capital in the supply chain s environment may determine the choice of how to configure the chain, expected expenditures and the effects of its operation. At this level of aggregation, social capital is a significant background for supply chain management. Thus, the impact of the level of social capital in-group and individualistic cultures on the dominant relationships in supply chains is presented in Table 7.3. 

Despite these limitations, the authors managed to establish some dialogue with Polish companies regarding the social capital of their supply chains. Questions regarding social capital were included in a questionnaire used in the second stage of the fundamental study -the final study (see Introduction). The questions regarding the supply chain s social capital were used both in the questionnaire drawn up for the purposes of the computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) and in the questionnaire prepared for the face-to-face interview. 

The screening tests during indirect reasoning showed the considerable importance of social capital in undertaking initiatives in supply chain management. The companies researched indicated that the lack of trust and commitment of collaborators in the supply chain and ensuing restrictions in access to data, as well as the growing uncertainty of business operations were a major barrier to the implementation of actions towards improvement. 

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