Escaping the Survival Trap: Network Transition among Early-Career Freelance Songwriters

People in the early stages of their careers often face a trade-off between cultivating a closed network that helps them secure the resources they need to survive or developing an open network that can help them succeed. Actors who overcome this trade-off transition from a closed network to an open network; those who fail to do so can be caught in a survival trap that jeopardizes their chances of having a successful career. We identify the factors that enable and constrain network transitions and test our theory on a sample of Korean pop (K-pop) freelance songwriters before they have attained their first commercial hit. These songwriters initially rely on a closed network of collaborators and transition toward an open network by working with fellow songwriters who are not connected to those collaborators. This network transition occurs faster among songwriters who eventually attain their first hit than among those who remain unsuccessful. Songwriters are more likely to collaborate with new distant colleagues when they have a reference group of commercially successful peers and when they have created stylistically similar songs in the past that have failed to become hits. However, most of their new distant colleagues also lack a hit, revealing a status barrier that constrains the network transition of early-career songwriters.

Cooperation Beyond the Network

It is well known in economics, law, and sociology that reputation costs in a closed network give insiders a feeling of being protected from bad behavior in their relations with one another. A person accustomed to doing business within a closed network is, therefore, likely to feel at unusual risk when asked to cooperate beyond the network because of absent reputation-cost security. It follows that business leaders in more closed networks should be less likely to cooperate beyond their network (Hypothesis 1 ). Success reinforces the status quo. Business leaders successful with a closed network associate their success with the safety of their network, so they should be even less likely to cooperate with a stranger (Hypothesis 2 ). We combine network data from a heterogeneous area probability survey of Chinese CEOs with a behavioral measure of cooperation to show strong empirical support for the two hypotheses. CEOs in more closed networks are less likely to cooperate beyond their network, especially those running successful businesses: successful CEOs in closed networks are particularly likely to defect against people beyond their network. The work contributes to a growing literature linking network structure with behavior: here, the closure that facilitates trust and cooperation within a network simultaneously erodes the probability of cooperation beyond the network, thereby reinforcing a social boundary around the network. Taking our results as a baseline, we close sketching new research on personality, homophily, network dynamics, and variation in the meaning of “beyond the network.”

Permissioned vs. Permissionless Blockchain: How and Why There Is Only One Right Choice

The blockchain structure can be utilized in an efficient way to verify and ensure the integrity of the data and prevent historical transactions from tampering, such that if one block is altered, then the rest of next blocks are no longer valid. However, it is possible to re-calculate all the next blocks in a closed and permissioned network, such that all altered blocks will become valid again. In other words, only chaining blocks to each other, based on the hash of the previous one, cannot ensure the integrity and the security of the data and protect transactions against tampering. In this paper, we motivate why permissionless blockchain in an open network should be considered as the only acceptable type of blockchain and show that permissioned blockchain and closed network makes chaining transactions (i.e. blockchain) as an unhelpful structure. Of course, this never means that we ignore the existing problems in permissionless blockchains (such as, scalability of the network and transaction throughput), but also, we argue that permissioned blockchain cannot be an acceptable solution for those problems, where chaining transactions will no longer be meaningful. In other words, in a closed network, we no longer need to chain transactions. Although, this is a central issue and has been addressed in recent years, we are trying to bring new elements and an enriched point of view.

A network perspective on foreign entry modes of small knowledge-intensive services firms

Purpose Integrating network attributes from studies of social networks, business relationships and small- to medium-sized enterprise (SME) internationalization, this study adopts a perceptual view of a firm’s focal “net” of relationships to examine foreign market entry mode choice. This study aims to examine how the interaction between knowledge-intensive service (KIS) firm’s network ties, embeddedness and position is related to choice of mode and subsequently the firm’s perceived insidership status within its focal net. Design/methodology/approach This research is based on qualitative interviews with 25 small- to medium-sized KIS firms engaged in direct exporting or foreign direct investment (FDI). This study derives an empirically grounded framework of four distinct network patterns of these KIS firms through an iterative process of triangulation between cases and theory. Findings The four network patterns illustrate the complex interaction between network attributes and entry mode choice by KIS firms. The findings suggest formal ties and centrality in closed network relationships provide the “central controller” firm discretion over their entry mode choice. Resource-intensive FDI by “opportunistic investors” proved essential to securing centrality through formal, institutional ties. Less optimal patterns lacking institutional ties and centrality, however, precluded choice of FDI by “specialized exporters” and “client followers.” The study finds that entry modes are less likely to be influenced by the firm’s embeddedness in open or closed network relationships, but rather by the desire to achieve a more central network position and legitimacy through more formal, less imitable ties. Research limitations/implications The findings demonstrate the importance of network structure, a position of centrality, and strength of professional and institutional ties to small KIS firm internationalization. By adopting a more finely grained examination of the interaction between key attributes of the firm’s focal net, this study provides a valuable first step in conceptualizing the complexities associated with networking and adoption of export/investment internationalization modes. Practical implications There are a number of implications for the strategic and operational facets of smaller KIS firm internationalization. To avoid excessive network liability for resource-deficient SMEs, practitioners should consider network positioning as a strategic activity, with the costs associated with building and maintaining networks offset against economic- and resource-related returns. Originality/value The authors contribute to a better understanding of entry mode choices of KIS by taking a network perspective that accounts for the combined effects of different network attributes. The four network patterns identified extend current theoretical knowledge on the role of networks for entry mode choices of small KIS by highlighting that entry mode choices reflect the particular firm’s focal net and its attempt to achieve insidership status through high centrality and formal ties.

Adipokines, Myokines, and Cardiokines: The Role of Nutritional Interventions

It is now established that adipose tissue, skeletal muscle, and heart are endocrine organs and secrete in normal and in pathological conditions several molecules, called, respectively, adipokines, myokines, and cardiokines. These secretory proteins constitute a closed network that plays a crucial role in obesity and above all in cardiac diseases associated with obesity. In particular, the interaction between adipokines, myokines, and cardiokines is mainly involved in inflammatory and oxidative damage characterized obesity condition. Identifying new therapeutic agents or treatment having a positive action on the expression of these molecules could have a key positive effect on the management of obesity and its cardiac complications. Results from recent studies indicate that several nutritional interventions, including nutraceutical supplements, could represent new therapeutic agents on the adipo-myo-cardiokines network. This review focuses the biological action on the main adipokines, myokines and cardiokines involved in obesity and cardiovascular diseases and describe the principal nutraceutical approaches able to regulate leptin, adiponectin, apelin, irisin, natriuretic peptides, and follistatin-like 1 expression.

Evolution and Strengthening Effects of the Heat-Resistant Phases in Al–Si Piston Alloys with Different Fe/Ni Ratios

The evolution of three major heat-resistant phases (δ-Al3CuNi, γ-Al7Cu4Ni, T-Al9FeNi) and its strengthening effects at high temperature in Al–Si piston alloys with various Fe/Ni ratios were studied using field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), electron probe microanalysis (EPMA), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). With the increase of Fe/Ni ratios, the heat-resistant phases begin to evolve in category, morphology, and distribution. The results show that a suitable Fe/Ni ratio will cause the T-Al9FeNi phase to appear and form a closed or semi-closed network with δ-Al3CuNi and γ-Al7Cu4Ni phases instead of the originally isolated heat-resistant phases. As a result, the ultimate tensile strength of the optimized alloy reached 106 MPa with a Fe/Ni ratio of 0.23, which was 23.3% higher than that of base alloy at 350 °C, which is attributed to the fact that a closed or semi-closed network microstructure is advantageous to the bearing of mechanical loads. This work may provide useful ideas for the development of high temperature resistant piston alloys.