Social nets: position of the actors in the information flow

Abstract

The social network of the furniture exportation consortium - Export Móveis - was studied in this work, focusing on the centrality measures as well as in the strong and weak ties of the network. The centrality measures are dealt with considering four aspects: information - which analyzes the information flows; degree - which considers the number of direct contacts; betwenness - which identifies who mediates, controls and guides information in the network; closeness - which evaluates the distance of an actor in relation to others. The strong ties - closer contacts, and the weak ties - more distant ones, are analyzed based on the closeness centrality indexes. The social networks analysis, which evaluates relationship standards, was the methodology used and it supported the data analysis taking measures accordingly. The results show that the most important actors in the network perform duties on the strategic level, being responsible for the decision-making in their companies and in the consortium, the research field of this work. The flow and sharing of information in the network depend on these actors as well as on the actions performance and the consortium planning.