Antecedents of Learning in Networks: An Examination of Low-Technology Firms in an Emerging Market Economy

This paper investigates how low-technology emerging market firms learn in networks during transition to market economy. It argues that while involvement in a variety of network types might enhance firms’ external learning, the ways they learn from their external environment might differ according to network types and characteristics of the inter-organizational relationship, with subsequent effects on their performance. We develop an analytical framework drawing on the extant literature on the taxonomy of learning, types of networks, partner characteristics, and initiator, continuity, formality of the relationships. We investigate 467 dyadic inter-organizational relationship processes that took place during 1989-2001period in Polish food-processing and clothing industries. Our results show that low-tech firms learn through different modes that are associated with different types of networks and different characteristics of inter-organizational relationships. Our findings provide detailed elaborations for managers on what factors to focus on when entering into a network in seek of external knowledge.