INTRODUCTION Currently, the world is experiencing growing instability and unpredictability, resulting largely from the process of globalization, which major drivers are technological change, liberalization of world trade/commerce, transportation and communication improvements, product development costs and higher demand for total quality orientation (Keegan & Schlegelmilch, 2001). At the same time, we are witnessing the growing importance of small and medium-sized businesses which can be more flexible and adaptable, thus better coping with turbulent contexts. Entrepreneurial small businesses and new ventures also have a key role in seizing new opportunities arising from both niches associated with structural changes in markets and new technological developments. Consequently, there is an overall agreement on the benefits of a more entrepreneurial society and economy (Audretsch, 2009; Audrestsch et al., 2002; Grebel et al., 2003). Entrepreneurs are central to the functioning of free economies, since they are agents of change and growth and can act to accelerate the generation, dissemination and application of innovative ideas. In doing so, they not only ensure the efficient use of resources, but also expand the boundaries of economic activity. It is, however, a known fact that new firms face a high risk of failure, which led a part of research on entrepreneurship to focus the interest on the determinants of success of new ventures. Several dimensions, such as management characteristics, business strategy, industry structure, personality and other features of the entrepreneur and founding team were put forward in literature (e.g. Eisenhardt & Schoonhoven, 1990; Keeley & Boure, 1990; Miller & Toulouse, 1986; Sandberg & Hofer, 1987; Zhao et al., 2010). This article stands from the perspective that social play an important role in entrepreneurial success (Birley, 1985). Recent studies have shown that networks and networking are important entrepreneurial tools that contribute to the establishment, development and growth of small firms (Shaw & Conway, 2000). Entrepreneurs are embedded in social which allow them, not only to enlarge their knowledge opportunities, range of action, ability to gain access to critical resources and to gain critical knowledge (Floyd & Wooldridge, 1999), but also to avoid or deal with business development obstacles (Aldrich & Elam, 1997). Network configurations can differ, according to the type of stakeholders and the nature of relations they encompass. Consistent with Freeman, who introduced the stakeholder theory, stakeholder is defined as [...] any group or individual who can affect or who is affected by the achievement of the organization's objectives (Freeman, 1984, p. 25). This study posits that entrepreneurial ventures evidencing high performance are likely to access and mobilize relevant strategic organizational resources with specific stakeholders, whereas low performers are likely to access less strategic organizational resources from other types of stakeholders. Additionally, entrepreneurial with stakeholders can be categorized into two types derived from different sources: formal and informal (Birley, 1985). While formal consist of public and sectorial associations, universities and training centers and financial institutions, informal include close relationships, family and friends (Das & Teng, 1997). These relationships may rely on stronger or weaker ties, which are not necessarily in conflict with each other, but, instead, play a different role (Burt, 2000). Additionally, in accordance with Zhao and Aram (1995), there is a cost to networking, particularly in terms of the owner's time and, as a result of that, entrepreneurs need to be strategic in their use by balancing potential costs against benefits. Applying social network analysis as its main methodology, this paper aims at achieving the following objectives: i) to understand the nature and type of low, medium and high entrepreneurial performance and stakeholders' relationships; ii) to explore the overall pattern of between new ventures and different stakeholders. …
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