Networking is a socioeconomic business activity by which groups of like-minded businesspeople recognize, create, or act upon business opportunities.[1]
In the second half of the twentieth century, U.S. advocates for workplace equity[who?] popularized the term and concept of networking as part of a larger social-capital lexicon—which also includes terms such as "glass ceiling", "role model", "mentoring", and "gatekeeper"—serving to identify and address the problems barring non-dominant groups from professional success. Mainstream business literature subsequently adopted the terms and concepts, promoting them as pathways to success for all career climbers. Since the closing decades of the twentieth century, networking has become an accepted term and concept in American society.[citation needed] People now invoke "networking" in relation to everything from child-rearing to science to the business activities described here.[2][need quotation to verify]
Contents [hide]
1 Overview
2 General business networking
3 Networked business
4 See also
5 References
Overview[edit]
A business network is a type of business social network whose reason for existing is business networking activity (or connecting with other business people in order to further each other's business interests - forming mutually beneficial business relationships). There are several prominent business networking organizations that create models of business networking activity that, when followed, allow the business person to build new business relationships and generate business opportunities at the same time. A professional network service is an implementation of information technology in support of business networking.
Many business people contend business networking is a more cost-effective method of generating new business than advertising or public relations efforts. This is because business networking is a low-cost activity that involves more personal commitment than company money. Country-specific examples of informal networking are guanxi in China, blat in Russia, good ol' boy network in America, and old boy network in the UK.