On building partnership networks in an innovation context

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to seek to fill the gaps found in the literature to understand why and how the partnerships are formed and to map the dynamics of partnership networks of Brazilian electricity companies. Design/methodology/approach To map the dynamics of partnership networks formed by the Brazilian electricity companies, a social network analysis technique was adopted: R statistical software was used to make calculations and plot these networks. Findings It was found that the partnership network had a clear potential for an increase in the number of projects; however, the partnerships for the execution of such projects were dispersed. Although the concessionaires established partnerships with diverse institutions, the latter did not intercommunicate. Moreover, when analyzing the projects with respect to the project-type investigated, the institutions engaged in specific project types can be identified; thus, there is an opportunity for concessionaires, authorized contractors and licensed companies to identify the best partners, i.e. those that already possess the expertise to execute specific projects in future partnerships. Originality/value The purpose of this paper is to fill the gap in partnership network development dynamics to understand how such networks form, change and evolve over time.