Organizational networks, migration, and intercultural relations in Trieste, Italy

Abstract

PurposeThe present paper is part of a study associated with the migration phenomenon and the formation of intercultural social and economic relations which emerged in Italy in the nineteenth century and its practical and social implications in the twenty‐first century. The city of Trieste, Italy consists of a case study which examines the formation of organizational networks in the Mediterranean and in Europe which consist of the basic body of the so called Greek commercial dispersion.Design/methodology/approachThis study presents data collected from the analysis of archival documents. It is part of the scientific field of social anthropology and is a case study where participative observation was employed. Interviews with people offered the researchers ground to explain the purposes and reasons for the implementation of decisions related to the creation of the organizational networks.FindingsThe article discusses the relation between the national group with its unique cultural identity and entrepreneurship, emphasizing the cultural characteristics of such relation. The consequences from the existence of these networks in all sectors of the life of the community of these areas are investigated. To a third level of discussion, the mapping and analysis of the cultural interactions which emerged as a result of these networks shaping an integrated cultural identity is examined.Originality/valueThe project succeeds in making a theoretical and practical contribution to the way the development of organizational networks presented for Trieste, Italy can consist of a typical recourse for other areas of the Mediterranean where cultures and identities intermingle nowadays and migration and policy directions need to be implemented.