Social Capital and Entrepreneurial Social Netoworks in the Creation and Growth of a Cycle Tourism Firm

Abstract

The entrepreneurship literature has pointed out that social capital is a success factor in the creation of new firms. Social capital helps entrepreneurs in identifying and acquiring different kinds of resources through social networks. The aim of this paper is to analyze the role of social networks and social capital in the creation and growth of KuritBike Cicloturismo Urbano, a firm that has been operating in the cycle tourism trade at Curitiba - Pr for four years. Social capital is conceptualized as a relations network hold by the entrepreneur and the resources that can be mobilized through this network in the creation and growth of a firm. The paper adopted a qualitative approach using a single case study strategy. The firm that was studied was chosen due to the fact that it is the only enterprise operating in this sector at Curitiba, thus, revealing its entrepreneur´s innovative behavior. Results confirmed that social networks are an important source of social capital for the entrepreneur, both in the creation and growth stages of the business.