The paper seeks to use the concept of net social capital to help explain the behaviour of a business constellation, a group of entrepreneurial firms in different businesses that cooperate to their mutual benefit.
The paper takes the form of an in‐depth case study of the Canadian Groupement Quebecoise.
The members of the group create and maintain net social capital among themselves in a variety of ways both social and economic and in turn use that net social capital outside the group in dealings with other organisations, profit and non‐profit.
The findings suggest ways in which firms can work with other non‐competing firms.
The concept of net social capital is novel and the study is the first of its kind that investigates such a tightly knit and productive business constellation.
