Senior Executive Relationship Networks - Catalyst for Value (PDF)

For humanity to survive and prosper in the future, its need for food and energy must be met. It is, however, evident that our current consumption and projected growth rates may surpass the earth's ability to support us. The imbalances between resource supply and demand are straining political and economic systems, and changes in the global political economy seem to be accelerating with consequences that reach across nations. Many of the solutions that were proposed in the past are no longer relevant. Much of the necessary resources such as food, mineral commodities, manufactured products and service capabilities exist but are not sufficiently leveraged to meet the needs of the planet's population.
The study examined the situation at a country level and considered South Africa as an example. The main stakeholders were identified as Big Business, Government, Labour Unions, Small and Medium Enterprises, Civil Society and the Unemployed. They are for the most part not unified and because of these divisions are not able to mobilise the funds and skills that could extract maximum value to the benefit of all.
The research focused on the role which senior executives in these stakeholder constituencies should play. It is apparent that many senior executives are so caught up in the day-to-day management of their organisations that they do not devote enough time and energy to building relationships with decision makers outside their groups. They lack the social capital needed to broker collaborative innovation and thus create value between organisations. This state of affairs was the concern of the study.
The purpose of the research was to explore ways in which better solutions to business and societal challenges can be found. It honed in on which factors could be leveraged to improve the social capital of senior executives in order for them to effectively facilitate value creation. The Research Question was: "How can the Social Capital of Senior Executives be improved to stimulate Value Creation?"
The research methodology incorporated ontological philosophies namely Critical Realism and aspects of Systems Thinking. Grounded Theory was used as the qualitative research methodology using data gleaned from an interview process, and Beer's yo-yo model was applied in the theory building phase. Soft Systems Methodology was used in identifying possible actions to achieve desired outcomes for the various stakeholders.
The core variables which emerged from the research and the developed theory showed that there is a link between the social capital of senior executives and the level of value that can be created through their relationship networks.