The overview of chinese and malay business networking / Law Kuan Kheng ... [et al.]

The term business networking had been used interchangeably with “networks”, “business networks”, “networking”, “guanxi” or “entrepreneurial networking”. Carson, Cromie, McGowen and Hill (1995) defined business networking as “an activity in which the entrepreneurially oriented SME owners build and manage personal relationship with particular individuals in their surroundings”. The individuals may refer to f amily, friends, bankers, lawyers, accountants, other entrepreneurs, government officials and etc. The relationships are very complicated and complex. While Anderson, Jack and Dodd (2005) viewed business networking as a complex mixture of multiple social an d professional ties, all tend to contain both affective and instrumental elements, bonded by trust. Trust will be developed through longterm relationship between entrepreneurs and their network persons. Meanwhile, O’Donnell (2004) conceptualized networks as “a means of exploring how entrepreneurs do business”. Jaffar Abbas and friends (2019) defined entrepreneur ial business network as “a platform by which business executives and entrepreneurs meet with each other to discuss available business network opportunities”.