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Networks for Prosperity PART 2, Chapter 4: From Dialogue to Collaboration
Cowan and Jonard (2004), who modelled knowledge diffusion in various structures of network, challenge the assumption that KM is optimized in networks that are highly local or clustered. Indeed, they demonstrate that networks work better with up to 10 per cent of the linkages between distant participants. Their conclusion: “it is possible to have too much clustering. It is very important to maintain or even build strong links outside the cluster”.
While most business surveys and opinion polls canvass entrepreneurs for their views on the competence of government, we know less about how policy-makers and the public view businesses and their associations. Latinobarómetro did ask about trust in business associations in 2005 (see figure 4.1), a question unfortunately not repeated by sister initiatives Asian Barometer and AfroBarometerxli. On average across the region, three times as many people had no trust in them (28 per cent) as had a lot of trust in them (8 per cent). This may indicate a broader problem of declining trust across institutions, both public and private, in Latin America. Given the ambition of business associations to be influential actors in the making of economic policy, rebuilding trust between government, business associations and the general public is an urgent priority.
Figure 4.2
Trust in Business Associations (Latinobarómetro 2005) A lot
Some
None All values as %
little
Republica Dominicana
14
35
28
23
Costa Rica
12
33
33
22
Panama
7
Average for LAC
8
Peru
28
4
Bolivia 3
El Salvador
32
27 23
11
15
39
31
30
36
28
40
30
38
37
35