METHODOLOGY FOR FORMING NETWORK ASSOCIATIONS

Abstract

The present publication outlines the author's vision of the concept of a ‘regional network’. In the domestic economic space, it is very difficult to identify regional networks, to establish whether a business entity belongs to it. The article analyses two types of regional networks, namely infrastructural and technological. Infrastructural associations, to which beside business structures the author assigns regional business centers, business incubators, technology parks, and clusters, include other elements of the market system like local authorities and administration, public organizations, and social institutions. Technological regional networks include franchise networks, research networks, and unions/alliances of entrepreneurs. They consist of entrepreneurial structures that join a network to resolve their individual problems at the expense of network partners. The article defines advantages and disadvantages of each type of networks for transforming them into drivers of regional economic development. Business centers are one of the elements of the regional network infrastructure that have been created to run open tenders and competitions for participation of small enterprises in various programs, to train new entrepreneurs, and to stimulate business activities. Business incubators as a promising form of regional network development support small, newly established companies and entrepreneurs who want, but have no opportunities to start their own business. The author has classified existing forms and specializations of business incubators with a view to their goals and specific features of their founding. The advantages of clusters and franchising, which are promising forms of network association of regional entrepreneurs, are also noted. Considerable attention is paid to the analysis of the advantages of entrepreneurial unions and research networks that allow the use of a network approach in the environment of knowledge generation and technology transfer. The author justifies the expedient need for building industrial parks, as the way to implement a concept of regional network development, which combines infrastructural and technological components.