Network derived benefits and cultural roots: Study of Indian and Western service SME's

This research focuses on the relationship between culture and perceived network benefits of small and medium sized service firms and seeks to answer the following question: Do cultural roots of business owners predict the owners' market orientations and ultimately affect the benefits derived from the owners' networks?;After an introduction to this question and the format of the thesis, a literature review examines Hofstede's model of national culture, networking and social capital theory, relationship marketing and Huntington's theory of civilization. These theories have been used to lay a foundation upon which the framework of a collectivist culture and an individualist culture and business owners' abilities to achieve perceived network derived benefits in service firms were analyzed. This research addresses an existing gap in the services marketing literature by exploring the moderating effect of culture on business owners' networking activities and determining if this effect represents a competitive advantage.;Hypotheses have been developed from the literature and empirical studies presented in the study. These hypotheses were tested by a quantitative survey of small service firms. The analysis of the results from the hypotheses tested contribute to the scholarly understanding of networking theory and process through the exploration of the relationship between culture, business owners' market orientations and network benefits in small service firms. A conceptual model of benefits derived from networking was proposed based on the data collected in this study.