The Currency of Contacts: The Importance of Social Capital and Entrepreneurial Networking for Chilean Innovative Entrepreneurship

Sammanfattning: The Chilean entrepreneurial scene has been growing considerably over the last few years, much as a result of governmental incentives aiming to encourage entrepreneurship. The Chilean culture is characterized by collectivistic influences in which entrepreneurs' reliance on family and friends is high for starting up their ventures. In order to encourage innovative entrepreneurship participation from all social groups, the Chilean government has funded external assistance programs that aim to support entrepreneurs who lack sufficient initial social capital. The purpose of this thesis has been to distinguish to what extent Chilean innovative entrepreneurs rely on their initial network of contacts for support in the entrepreneurial process and in what way they benefit from the social network expansion enabled by entrepreneurial organizations. Through a case study method, 15 semi-structured interviews have been conducted with entrepreneurs involved in the organizations ASECH and Start-Up Chile. The results have been matched with theory on social capital in order to understand the cultural distinctions of the context of Chile. The results indicate that the cultural factor of collectivism is highly influential, as Chilean entrepreneurs rely heavily on support from family and other close contacts, but that successful entrepreneurship in the region also requires a diverse network of weak ties. Furthermore, trust was an influential factor for all entrepreneurial endeavors, and was most commonly created through sharing a mutual network connection. Moreover, Involvement within the entrepreneurial organizations could not compensate for a lack of support from strong ties, but rather fulfilled the purpose of weak ties. The study also found indications of a dense and collaborative entrepreneurial ecosystem. The main benefit of involvement within the entrepreneurial organizations was their ability to serve as a platform that enabled inclusion in this collaborative and closed network of entrepreneurs.