The impact of inter-organizational relationships on contractors' success in winning public procurement projects: The case of the construction industry in the Veneto region

• SNA provides tools for investigating the inter-organizational relationships among contractors in public procurement projects
• Partnering ability in public procurement practices significantly shape the success of contractors.
• Breadth highly impacts firm success in public procurement practices
• Reachness poorly impacts firm success in public procurement practices
• Brokerage negatively impacts firm success in public procurement practices

Our work aims to analyze the inter-organizational relationships of contractors in public procurement projects. We investigate how a contractor's network position affects his success in winningpublic procurement projects, measured as the average value of projects won. To accomplish this objective, we adopt a social network analysis approach. Our evidence come from an empirical analysis of the network positions of general contractors involved in public procurement projects in the construction industry in the Veneto region from 2008 to 2012. We explore through social network measures how partnering ability influences organizational success in winning public procurement projects. We identify three components of partnering ability: breadth; reach; brokerage. Only the first is crucial in determining the success of firms in public procurement practices. Managers involved in public procurement projects in the construction industry should invest in nurturing their partnering abilities by connecting to many partners to be involved in future projects.