The Public Sector as Broker

The analysis of social networks in management and organizations has become mainstream. Research has focused on actors within networks (i.e. nodes) and the relationships between these actors (i.e. ties). The position taken in this paper is that an inter-organisational collaboration is not about merging and creating new organizational settings, and more about restructuring organizational life itself based upon key connections with other economic actors. Instrumental is the notion of brokerage. The public sector as a network broker is assumed to facilitate interactions among economic actors by co-ordinating venues for them to interact. This research explores the role of a public sector organisation in managing and governing such an inter-organisational network. It also explores the concept of network brokerage through the lens of social network analysis. The research presented is a longitudinal case-study of a network of high performing private sector organisations coordinated and facilitated by a public sector broker.