Effective global networking presents an entire new set of challenges for US entrepreneurs. Studying how cross cultural communications have evolved as well as the manner in which men and women differ in their international b2b networking pursuits are some of the areas examined in an academic study discussed in an interview with Bat Batjargal, “…a research associate at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University, and an assistant professor at Beijing University, who has been studying cross-cultural networks for about a decade.”

Many critical abstractions can become blurred when networking cross culturally, such as engendering trust or interpreting relationship structures. What you do in China will be markedly different than how you might interact in Russia.
In addition to studying cultural challenges, the study revealed some surprising differences in how networking advances and supports men while a large network can hinder a woman’s career track.

“The networks of women entrepreneurs have more women and family members in their networks [than male networks]. However, large networks of women entrepreneurs, in particular, large advice networks, seem to harm firm performance. Women’s networks are often composed of lots of the wrong people, and people who have no useful resources that facilitate entrepreneurial success.

Second, large networks increase opportunity costs to female entrepreneurs—establishing and maintaining large networks redirects attention, energy, and resources of female entrepreneurs away from their ventures, and in this way, female entrepreneurs lose lots of sales opportunities.”
(Source)

It’s an interesting report that can be accessed at the link above.