Business networking

Last updated

Business networking is the practice of building relationships with individuals and businesses for professional purposes. [1] It involves the strategic exchange of information and resources to create connections that can be mutually beneficial. [2] Business networking can be conducted in person, online, or through a combination of both. Through repeated interactions, companies create deeper connections. This encourages knowledge exchange, mutual adaptation, and a commitment of resources, which can be both financial and social, to one another. [1]

Contents

Business networking helps individuals achieve effective networking which can result in career advancement, building mutually beneficial relationships and knowledge sharing. There are two main approaches of networking: in-person events like conferences and online platforms like LinkedIn. To maximize the value of these interactions, there are some strategies for effective business networking, from setting clear goals beforehand to following up with connections after the event. While there are many benefits to successful connections, there are still some challenges to consider and be aware of when expanding as an organization.

Goal of Business Networking

Business networking offers a variety of advantages for professionals at all stages of their careers. Some goals individuals can achieve through effective networking include: career advancement opportunities, gain access to valuable knowledge and expertise, and build mutually beneficial relationships. [3]

Networks can be a powerful tool for identifying new job openings, particularly positions that are not advertised. [4] Connections can provide valuable recommendations and introductions to hiring managers. Networking allows individuals to showcase their skills and experience to potential employers. By building relationships with potential clients and partners at networking events, one can significantly increase awareness of their brand or business. A strong network can act as a referral source, bringing in new business opportunities through trusted recommendations. [5] These connections can become a source of valuable knowledge and expertise. Through conversations and potential mentorship opportunities with experienced professionals, valuable insights can be gained into industry trends and best practices. [1] Business networking fosters the development of mutually beneficial relationships. By connecting with like-minded professionals, organizations can build long-term, trusted bonds that offer support, advice, and collaboration opportunities. [4]

Types of Business Networking

Business networking can be broadly categorized into two main approaches: in-person networking and online networking. [6] In-person networking allows organizations and entrepreneurs to connect with professionals face-to-face. Industry conferences and trade shows are a resource to meet potential clients, partners, and colleagues while also learning about current trends.

Online networking provides another resource to connect with professionals virtually. Platforms like LinkedIn are designed specifically for professional networking, allowing individuals to build their network, share their expertise, and participate in industry discussions. [7] Online forums and communities focused on specific industries can be a valuable resource for connecting with like-minded individuals and asking questions about the industry. Industry-specific discussion boards offer another avenue for online networking, where individuals can showcase their knowledge, learn from others, and potentially find new collaborators or clients. [7]

Strategies for Effective Business Networking

Successful business networking relies on a well-defined strategy implemented before, during, and after networking events. By planning a proactive approach, professionals can maximize the value gained from these interactions and connect to a network that promotes career growth and business development. [2] It is beneficial for organizations to establish clear goals for their interactions and to tailor the approach according to each connection one is trying to form. Researching event attendees beforehand, if possible, is beneficial. [8] Identifying individuals whose work aligns with interests or professional goals allows for unique conversation starters. This demonstrates genuine interest in connecting and establishing rapport which can in turn increase an organizations or individuals reputation. [1] Once the initial connection is made, following up after a networking event with a professional email that shows gratitude for the interaction and knowledge gained can continue the conversation and can begin the foundation for a strong business network connection. [4]

Benefits of Successful Business Networking

One of the most significant advantages is the potential for increased career opportunities. A strong network can provide opportunities such as unadvertised job openings through connections who might be aware of potential fits within their companies. [3] These connections can also provide valuable recommendations and introductions to hiring managers or other individuals who are interested in forming business connections. Additionally, networking events and online platforms offer opportunities to show ones skills or an organizations capabilities and knowledge to a wider audience of potential employers, increasing overall visibility in the job market and business community. [4]

Beyond career advancement, business networking builds brand awareness. By building strong relationships with potential clients and partners at networking events and through online interactions, organizations can significantly increase awareness of their brand or business. [1] These connections can then develop into paying customers or business connections that can help expand an organization. A strong network acts as a referral source, bringing in new business opportunities through trusted recommendations from your network members.

The larger the network an organization or individual has, the more access to knowledge and experience they have. [8] This type of access proves to be valuable when attempting to expand the business into unknown territory or beginning your business career. Learning from those who have been in a certain industry for a long time can improve chances of recognition from other brands and businesses who would want to form connections and builds reputation for the organization or individual. [1]

Challenges of Business Networking

Networking can be an effective way for job-seekers to gain a competitive edge over others in the job-market. The skilled networker cultivates personal relationships with prospective employers and selection panelists, in the hope that these personal affections will influence future hiring decisions. This form of networking has raised ethical concerns. The objection is that it constitutes an attempt to corrupt formal selection processes. The networker is accused of seeking non-meritocratic advantage over other candidates; advantage that is based on personal fondness rather than on any objective appraisal of which candidate is most qualified for the position. [9] [10]

While social media offers a powerful platform for business networking, it still has its downsides. Social media interactions can sometimes feel superficial or inauthentic. Building genuine relationships takes time and effort, which can be difficult in the fast-paced online world. [6] It can be difficult to maintain a balance of showcasing your expertise and oversharing personal or confidential information and this type of oversharing can cause damage to an organizations reputation. [7] Social media can be overwhelming, since it is filled with a constant stream of content. This can make it difficult for an organization or an individual to stand out and put their name out online. Social media can also be cruel to new content or those who post controversial topics, as these can also damage an organizations reputation. It's important to be prepared to handle these situations professionally.

See also

Related Research Articles

An internet relationship is a relationship between people who have met online, and in many cases know each other only via the Internet. Online relationships are similar in many ways to pen pal relationships. This relationship can be romantic, platonic, or even based on business affairs. An internet relationship is generally sustained for a certain amount of time before being titled a relationship, just as in-person relationships. The major difference here is that an internet relationship is sustained via computer or online service, and the individuals in the relationship may or may not ever meet each other in person. Otherwise, the term is quite broad and can include relationships based upon text, video, audio, or even virtual character. This relationship can be between people in different regions, different countries, different sides of the world, or even people who reside in the same area but do not communicate in person.

Coaching is a form of development in which an experienced person, called a coach, supports a learner or client in achieving a specific personal or professional goal by providing training and guidance. The learner is sometimes called a coachee. Occasionally, coaching may mean an informal relationship between two people, of whom one has more experience and expertise than the other and offers advice and guidance as the latter learns; but coaching differs from mentoring by focusing on specific tasks or objectives, as opposed to more general goals or overall development.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mentorship</span> Guidance relationship

Mentorship is the patronage, influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor. A mentor is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person. In an organizational setting, a mentor influences the personal and professional growth of a mentee. Most traditional mentorships involve having senior employees mentor more junior employees, but mentors do not necessarily have to be more senior than the people they mentor. What matters is that mentors have experience that others can learn from.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social exchange theory</span> Generalization theory explaining social behaviour regarding society and economics

Social exchange theory is a sociological and psychological theory that studies the social behavior in the interaction of two parties that implement a cost-benefit analysis to determine risks and benefits. The theory also involves economic relationships—the cost-benefit analysis occurs when each party has goods that the other parties value. Social exchange theory suggests that these calculations occur in romantic relationships, friendships, professional relationships, and ephemeral relationships as simple as exchanging words with a customer at the cash register. Social exchange theory says that if the costs of the relationship are higher than the rewards, such as if a lot of effort or money were put into a relationship and not reciprocated, then the relationship may be terminated or abandoned.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Recruitment</span> Process of attracting, selecting and appointing candidates to a job or other organization

Recruitment is the overall process of identifying, sourcing, screening, shortlisting, and interviewing candidates for jobs within an organization. Recruitment also is the process involved in choosing people for unpaid roles. Managers, human resource generalists, and recruitment specialists may be tasked with carrying out recruitment, but in some cases, public-sector employment, commercial recruitment agencies, or specialist search consultancies such as Executive search in the case of more senior roles, are used to undertake parts of the process. Internet-based recruitment is now widespread, including the use of artificial intelligence (AI).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social networking service</span> Online platform that facilitates the building of relations

A social networking service (SNS), or social networking site, is a type of online social media platform which people use to build social networks or social relationships with other people who share similar personal or career content, interests, activities, backgrounds or real-life connections.

A purchasing cooperative is a type of cooperative arrangement, often among businesses, to agree to aggregate demand to get lower prices from selected suppliers. Retailers' cooperatives are a form of purchasing cooperative. Cooperatives are often used by government agencies to reduce costs of procurement. Purchasing Cooperatives are used frequently by governmental entities, since they are required to follow laws requiring competitive bidding above certain thresholds. In the United States, counties, municipalities, schools, colleges and universities in the majority of states can sign interlocal agreements or cooperative contracts that allow them to legally use contracts that were procured by another governmental entity. The National Association of State Procurement Officials (NASPO) reported increasing use of cooperative purchasing practices in its 2016 survey of state procurement.

Business development entails tasks and processes to develop and implement growth opportunities within and between organizations. It is a subset of the fields of business, commerce and organizational theory. Business development is the creation of long-term value for an organization from customers, markets, and relationships. Business development can be taken to mean any activity by either a small or large organization, non-profit or for-profit enterprise which serves the purpose of 'developing' the business in some way. In addition, business development activities can be done internally or externally by a business development consultant. External business development can be facilitated through Planning Systems, which are put in place by governments to help small businesses. In addition, reputation building has also proven to help facilitate business development.

Value network analysis (VNA) is a methodology for understanding, using, visualizing, optimizing internal and external value networks and complex economic ecosystems. The methods include visualizing sets of relationships from a dynamic whole systems perspective. Robust network analysis approaches are used for understanding value conversion of financial and non-financial assets, such as intellectual capital, into other forms of value.

A personal network is a set of human contacts known to an individual, with whom that individual would expect to interact at intervals to support a given set of activities. In other words, a personal network is a group of caring, dedicated people who are committed to maintain a relationship with a person in order to support a given set of activities. Having a strong personal network requires being connected to a network of resources for mutual development and growth.

A community of practice (CoP) is a group of people who "share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly". The concept was first proposed by cognitive anthropologist Jean Lave and educational theorist Etienne Wenger in their 1991 book Situated Learning. Wenger significantly expanded on this concept in his 1998 book Communities of Practice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Onboarding</span> Management jargon

Onboarding or organizational socialization is the American term for the mechanism through which new employees acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, and behaviors to become effective organizational members and insiders. In standard English, this is referred to as "induction". In the United States, up to 25% of workers are organizational newcomers engaged in onboarding process.

A professional network service is a type of social network service that focuses on interactions and relationships for business opportunities and career growth, with less emphasis on activities in personal life.

Expertise finding is the use of tools for finding and assessing individual expertise. In the recruitment industry, expertise finding is the problem of searching for employable candidates with certain required skills set. In other words, it is the challenge of linking humans to expertise areas, and as such is a sub-problem of expertise retrieval.

Business relations are connections between stakeholders in the process of businesses, such as employer–employee relationships, managers as well as outsourced business partners. The association of businesses began relationships that have been constructed through communication channels such as the likes of telephones, personal contacts, and e-mails. These types of contacts are maintained and deepened through similar channels in internal businesses and organizations.

A sustainability organization is (1) an organized group of people that aims to advance sustainability and/or (2) those actions of organizing something sustainably. Unlike many business organizations, sustainability organizations are not limited to implementing sustainability strategies which provide them with economic and cultural benefits attained through environmental responsibility. For sustainability organizations, sustainability can also be an end in itself without further justifications.

An enterprise social graph is a representation of the extended social network of a business, encompassing relationships among its employees, vendors, partners, customers, and the public. With the advent of Web 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0 technologies a company can monitor and act on these relationships in real-time. Given the number of relationships and the volume of associated data, algorithmic approaches are used to focus attention on changes that are deemed relevant.

Workplace relationships are unique interpersonal relationships with important implications for the individuals in those relationships, and the organizations in which the relationships exist and develop.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social network</span> Social structure made up of a set of social actors

A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors, sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for analyzing the structure of whole social entities as well as a variety of theories explaining the patterns observed in these structures. The study of these structures uses social network analysis to identify local and global patterns, locate influential entities, and examine network dynamics.

Social media use by businesses includes a range of applications. Although social media accessed via desktop computers offer a variety of opportunities for companies in a wide range of business sectors, mobile social media, which users can access when they are "on the go" via tablet computers or smartphones, benefit companies because of the location- and time-sensitive awareness of their users. Mobile social media tools can be used for marketing research, communication, sales promotions/discounts, informal employee learning/organizational development, relationship development/loyalty programs, and e-commerce.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Öberg, Christina (April 2019). "The role of business networks for innovation". Journal of Innovation & Knowledge. 4 (2): 124–128. doi:10.1016/j.jik.2017.10.001. hdl: 10419/260897 .
  2. 1 2 Håkansson, Håkan; Ford, David (February 2002). "How should companies interact in business networks?". Journal of Business Research. 55 (2): 133–139. doi:10.1016/S0148-2963(00)00148-X.
  3. 1 2 Hoang, Ha; Antoncic, Bostjan (1 November 2001). "Network-based research in entrepreneurship". Journal of Business Venturing. 18 (2): 165–187. doi:10.1016/S0883-9026(02)00081-2.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Pierson, Orville (2009). Highly effective networking: meet the right people and get a great job. Franklin Lakes, NJ: Career Press. ISBN   978-1-60163-050-6.
  5. ↑ Stocking, George W.; Mueller, Willard F. (April 1957). "Business Reciprocity and the Size of Firms". The Journal of Business. 30 (2): 73. doi:10.1086/294135. ISSN   0021-9398. JSTOR   2350827.
  6. 1 2 Indrupati, Joel; Henari, Tara (1 January 2012). "Entrepreneurial success, using online social networking: evaluation". Education, Business and Society: Contemporary Middle Eastern Issues. 5 (1): 47–62. doi:10.1108/17537981211225853. ISSN   1753-7983.
  7. 1 2 3 Dwivedi, Yogesh K.; Ismagilova, Elvira; Rana, Nripendra P.; Raman, Ramakrishnan (1 June 2023). "Social Media Adoption, Usage And Impact In Business-To-Business (B2B) Context: A State-Of-The-Art Literature Review". Information Systems Frontiers. 25 (3): 971–993. doi: 10.1007/s10796-021-10106-y . ISSN   1572-9419.
  8. 1 2 Terziovski, Milé (1 January 2003). "The relationship between networking practices and business excellence: a study of small to medium enterprises (SMEs)". Measuring Business Excellence. 7 (2): 78–92. doi:10.1108/13683040310478011. ISSN   1368-3047.
  9. ↑ Dobos, Ned (1 October 2013). "Just What are you Trying to Pull?". The Canberra Times . Archived from the original on 9 October 2017.
  10. ↑ Dobos, Ned (1 September 2017). "Networking, Corruption, and Subversion". Journal of Business Ethics. 144 (3): 467–478. doi:10.1007/s10551-015-2853-4. ISSN   1573-0697.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.