Strong Bridges

Ronald S. Burt is the Charles M. Harper Leadership Professor of Sociology and Strategy Emeritus at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Management and Technology at Bocconi University. Sonja Opper is Professor of Global Strategy and Institutions and the DeAgostini Endowed Chair of Corporate Strategy in the Department of Management and Technology at Bocconi University.

• 1. INTRODUCTIONOverview of the book2. UNEXPECTEDLY STRONG BRIDGES Network context: Bridges and clustersPreserving the status quo: The closure-trust associationContradictory data patternChanging the status quo: Achievement and network brokerageConclusion: Strong bridges despite fragile brokerage3. TRUST IN EVENT CONTACTS Data: Social networks of Chinese entrepreneursEvent versus current contactsKinds of event contactsConclusion: Relational embedding4. FROM EVENTS TO GUANXI, TO STRONG BRIDGESGuanxi analogyTesting the strong-bridges hypothesisStrong bridges and competitive advantageTesting the advantage hypothesisConclusion: Strong bridges5. COINCIDENTAL mULTIPLEXITY Foundation relations Guanxi emerges from historyGuanxi, family, friends and colleagues How are guanxi used?How essential is multiplexity? Conclusion: Coincidental multiplexity6. COINCIDENTAL LANGUAGELanguage dataHow speakers differHow words differ Robust hypothesesConclusion: Language complexity mirrors network complexity 7. STRONG BRIDGE RESILIENCEThree lines of attackFollow-up survey in 2021Where is COVID in the network?Erosion of closure-trust associationBridge resilience Conclusion: Strong bridges are resilient 8. TAKING STOCK AND LOOKING AHEADEvidence of strong bridgesThe origin of strong bridgesStrong bridges in other study populationsOther implications of recognizing strong bridges Appendix A: Fieldwork and network interview instrument Appendix B: Descriptive statisticsAppendix C: Topics implicit in the descriptionsReferences