Networks

Networks can serve as alternatives to formal organisational structures. The very nature of networks bring a range of benefits that are particularly important within the social economy. They can expand rapidly and widely; information and resources can be spread quickly; they bring people together efficiently and in new ways because they provide short ‘pathways’ from one individual to the next (despite social or geographic distance); they are resilient to outside shocks because the structure is adaptive and fluid. Different kinds of networks will be appropriate for different kinds of organisations, foundations and institutions.