1477 Social Networks through an Entrepreneurial Mindset Euler G. M. de Souza Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Japan Tunç D. Medeni Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Japan Kun Nie Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Japan S introduction The entrepreneurial mindset is crucial to build and manage social networks. Entrepreneurs have proven to be skillful social networks builders and users (Stuart & Sorenson, 2005). Nevertheless, an entrepreneurial mindset is not limited only to entrepreneurs, organiza- tions are made of people where social networks play a very important role in order to create, maintain and develop patterns of communications among people. Analyzing the entrepreneurial personality, researchers have found many traits in successful entrepreneurs along history. According to McClelland (1986), the key to entrepreneurial success is the need for achievement, which is explained by the urgency of coming up with the new, to create and to make things happen. An important aspect to be considered is that an entrepreneur does not act alone; he or she always depends on others to go on, therefore making use of networks. Another important characteristic of an entrepreneur is the ability to take calculated risks (Hornaday, 1982), being the opposite of what many people think, the real entrepreneur will take risks, however with a very clear understanding of the situation and the risks will be moderated not high. Social competence (Baron, 2000) is higher than average when talking about entrepreneurial behavior; there is a high social perception and extreme capacity to adapt to new social situations. The flow of informa- tion and knowledge has been considered the lifeblood of many organizations, especially the ones based on the knowledge economy. Considering the emergent knowledge society, change agents are necessary to provide a dynamic equilibrium to our changing organi- zational environment and acting with an entrepreneurial mind will allow individuals and organizations to act proactively identifying opportunities and mobilizing resources (Stuart & Sorenson, 2005). BACKGRound Social network studies have called attention of many entrepreneurship scholars and they have recognized that networks are heavily used by entrepreneurs to take business decisions, to recognize new opportunities and to mobilize resources. Therefore, social networks have been considered part of entrepreneurial strategy. Social networks are dynamic relationships, changing and processual, thereby difficult to comprehend entirely (Anderson & Jack, 2002). The terms social network and personal network frequently appear in the literature and can be understood interchangeably. Researchers observed that entrepreneurial studies failed to include a social context and soon they started to examine entrepreneurship taking into account the social and relational aspect (Aldrich & Zimmer, 1986). There are three elements claimed as basic to social networks (Hoang & Antoncic, 2003) that should be described: (1) the nature of the content that is exchanged between actors; (2) governance mechanisms in relationships; and (3) the network structure created by the crosscutting relationships between actors. Social capital has been mentioned as one of the most significant outcomes of social networks used by entrepreneurs, it allows individuals to convert social relationships into tangible values and benefits, such as start-up capital. Copyright © 2008, IGI Global, distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.