Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to explore the kinds of contacts and networks women find supportive in their role as business leaders, and which also support their willingness to grow their business. The approach is to investigate the context of women entrepreneurs and the kinds of supporting social networks of which they are part. This is seen in relation to their willingness to grow. Design/methodology/approach -Questionnaires were sent to women entrepreneurs in mid-Sweden and mid-Norway, relating to supportive assets and willingness for growth. Findings -The results show: that personal networks are seen as a more supportive asset than business networks; that personal contacts with other entrepreneurs are regarded as valuable; and that women entrepreneurs who are positive towards new networks already have a more heterogenic network than those who do not express this willingness. Practical implications -Without a relational attitude and a willingness to put oneself into a relational interplay, women entrepreneurs will have a hard time succeeding in growing their businesses. Originality/value -This study is unique in three ways: first, it combines different theoretical perspectives, above all a variety of network perspectives seen in an entrepreneurial context. Second, from a huge set of data containing women entrepreneurs, the paper presents valid findings about social network configurations among this group. Third, it introduces the term "willingness", and discusses the effects related to this and to network expansion and business growth. These dimensions help us to increase the understanding of networking and growth in women-owned enterprises.

Research in entrepreneurship and learning has focused on education about, for and within enterprises. The purpose of this article is to analyse and discuss the importance of organizing for entrepreneurial learning. The research design included a case study of a newly established 1-year programme at a university in Sweden. Data were collected through participant observations and interviews with students, both in groups and individually. The study shows that organizing entrepreneurial learning involves a similar method to that used in entrepreneurial processes in companies with a focus on process, people and place. The contribution of the study is to confirm that Foley’s model with these three components is applicable in the context of entrepreneurial learning. The conclusion is that the process, the people and the place combined to create an environment for the students that was conducive to entrepreneurial learning. The people are the most important factor and should also be considered with regard to process and place. In order to establish a creative environment, organizers should consider the importance of students’ collaboration with stakeholders in the region, through which they can contribute to the development of the community. Students contribute to the local community through their interaction with it.

Purpose – Social capital is perceived as an important driver for entrepreneurship. To support development of social capital in women’s entrepreneurship, the Swedish government supports development projects with the aim of stimulating business growth. Recent studies show that trust is an essential ingredient when designing such projects. The purpose of this paper is to further develop a theoretical model of trust-building processes by developing and trying out questions regarding trust elements and to study how projects have addressed these various trust-building elements. Design/methodology/approach – An exploratory approach was used, and a survey was conducted. A questionnaire about trust was sent to the project leaders of all 165 development projects in a Swedish government-funded programme with a response rate of 73 per cent. The data were analysed in SPSS. Findings – The results show that contextual and relational aspects should be taken into account in the trust model, and that some of the questions regarding trust elements need to be elaborated more. Originality/value – This paper further develops the construction of a proposed theoretical model of trust-building processes.

Business growth through intentional and non-intentional network processes AbstractPurpose. The purpose of this paper is to examine business growth and explore the "growth mode" among 24 women entrepreneurs participating in a development and networking programme conducted within a Nordic research project.Design/methodology/approach. A longitudinal design with an inductive methodology driven by empirical findings made it possible to follow entrepreneurial growth as an unfolding and emerging process. The analysis is structured following established procedures for inductive theory-building research using guidelines for constant comparison techniques and worked recursively between the data and emerging theory.

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