Managerial networks and strategic orientation in SMEs: Experience from a transition economy

The purpose of this paper is to igvestigate how strategic orientation influences managerial networks in Indian SMEs and the role competitive intensity as a moderator.

Structured pre-tested questionnaire was employed to gather information from 147 top managers from Indian SMEs. Statically models were used for internal and external validation, hypothesis testing and data analysis.

The study results support the positive significant influence of strategic orientation including market orientation (customer orientation, competitor orientation and inter-functional orientation), technology orientation and entrepreneurship orientation on managerial network (business and political networks) building in Indian SMEs.

This study is one of the few studies on the subject line in Indian context, and among the first few studies in the Indian SME sector.