REAL
Keystone sector methodology applied to Portugal
3. TT social structure shows a strong dependence on Public Institutions and Non-
Profit Associations. Private enterprises do not play an important role in the social
network (with few exceptions). Namely the recently privatized bank system has no
significant role. This contradicts similar studies in U.S. towns, where banks play an
important role in information, money and support relations. The Municipality, the
University, the Student University Association and the Public Employment Center
seem to play the important role in the present, contrasting with the traditional
structure where the textile firms were central.
4. Even erasing the six more central institutions as a set, did not split the network into
more than one component, revealing no dominance or centralized social structure.
According to critical mass theory, this lack of actor centralization can explain part
of the internal competitive disadvantages in town.
5. The block-modeling test revealed that there are over 15 groups of structural
equivalent entities in ‘information’ and ‘money’ interactions and 12 in
‘organizational support’, which enhances the possibility that some entities can be
used as ports of access to other clusters increasing the efficiency of the network.
6. The values of the accumulated densities in 2nd and 3rd paths (for INF and ORG) (54
and 59% respectively) reveal a high level of non-redundant contacts diminishing
the marginal cost to obtain the same amount of benefits in the first two flows.
Nevertheless, the best-located actors pertain to non-profit organizations, which
constrain the competitive advantage provided by those holes.
7. Structural hole measures confirm that the kinds of benefits that can be used are
small, as long as public and non-profit sectors are not related to profit. This social
structure should be locally dense to preserve and maintain resources and maybe that
a sparse network would be an advantage for external links. In itself, the existence of
structural holes does not mean a great deal. The use entities can make of them
would essentially be non-productive despite culturally valuable.
8. Social structure reveals the same pattern than in the old regime where public sector,
church and school were the basic of anti-democratic centrality.
Wrap - up
Economic performance around the world shows some important changes with
different geographic puzzles and urban/rural paths. Tradition and culture seem to play a
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