Structural holes in the local governments’ tendering activity network in a Hungarian sub-region

Abstract

The paper discusses the collaboration network of local governments through their tendering activity. Although many tenders in the Hungarian tendering system have given special attention to those joint actions that targeted cross developments of multiple localities, collaboration between local governments in the tendering activity cannot be considered typical. This observation is corroborated by our research conducted in 2009–2010, mapping all tender collaborations by local governments in the Kaposvár sub-region, a total of 54 localities. Our research identified a social network with structural holes of tender collaboration between local governments in the sub-region. Network structural holes allow the presence of a ‘third party’ that profits from this network structure. This paper seeks to identify which actors benefit from the structural characteristics of the collaboration network of local governments in tendering activity. Key words: local governments, tendering activity, social network