Abstract

This paper deals with the concept of social capital, and pays attention to the different roles of familiar relational resources on the economic performance of the small-medium firms, both in traditional sectors ("old economy") and innovative ones ("new economy"), in the three Italian macroregions: North West, Third Italy, South. The analysis is carried out along the following dimensions: start up and development of the firm, functioning, occupational dynamics, events of crisis or rapid growth. Using network analysis, this paper examines the concrete strategies of the entrepreneurs and of their families, the nature and contents of the relational resources and their evolution in time. Findings show that familiar relational resources are more important in the "old" than in the "new economy". In the South they have a "virtuous" effect also on the "new economy" and prove that family and kinship (as in the Third Italy) can build stable solidarities and economic innovation.