The importance of policy networks and the need to "treat networks seriously" has long been emphasized within the field of policy analysis. However, not many attempts have been made to investigate the explanatory power of policy networks using the tools and theoretical concepts provided by Social Network analysis (SNA). Accordingly, that is the central undertaking of this paper. Is there a relationship between the structural features of policy networks, their organizing capacities and performance? A comparative case study of five networks within the sector of higher education confirms the assumption about a relationship between the variables. An innovative policy network is a network with a heterogeneous set of actors that are centrally integrated. Further, while the level of network heterogeneity is positively related to the function of resource mobilization, the level of integration facilitates the process of prioritizing. There is certainly a lot of explanatory power in the concept of policy networks and the formal analytical approach (SNA) is one way to explore its possibilities.