Collective leadership in small firm networks: a study in The Centersul Network of Mato Grosso

Abstract

Networks among companies are a form of a complex organization, in which individual and collective interests are mixed. They dialogue with a subjective dimension that emerges from the relational dynamics among the subjects involved in the collective. This article has as central objective to understand how the leadership relations in a network of small businesses are constituted. The empirical field of analysis is the Centersul Network, consisting of 24 retailer companies of building material located in the Central region of Brazil. The survey had exploratory and qualitative emphasis, adopting the method of case study. The results showed that the collective leadership in networks constitutes a dialogical relationship among the formal and informal leaderships, in which different subjects become alternately leaders.