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744
Alliances and networks
"... This paper introduces a social network perspective to the study of strategic alliances. It extends prior research, which has primarily considered alliances as dyadic exchanges and paid less attention to the fact that key precursors, processes, and outcomes associated with alliances can be defined an ..."
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Cited by 833 (6 self)
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This paper introduces a social network perspective to the study of strategic alliances. It extends prior research, which has primarily considered alliances as dyadic exchanges and paid less attention to the fact that key precursors, processes, and outcomes associated with alliances can be defined and shaped in important ways by the social networks within which most firms are embedded. It identifies five key issues for the study of alliances: (1) the formation of alliances, (2) the choice of governance structure, (3) the dynamic evolution of alliances, (4) the performance of alliances, and (5) the performance consequences for firms entering alliances. For each of these issues, this paper outlines some of the current research and debates at the firm and dyad level and then discusses some of the new and important insights that result from introducing a network perspective. It highlights current network research on alliances and suggests an agenda for future research.
Network Structure and Knowledge Transfer: The Effects of Cohesion and Range
- ADMINISTRATIVE SCIENCE QUARTERLY
, 2003
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The network paradigm in organizational research: A review and typology',
- Journal of Management,
, 2003
"... In this paper, we review and analyze the emerging network paradigm in ..."
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Cited by 296 (10 self)
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In this paper, we review and analyze the emerging network paradigm in
The impact of social structure on economic outcomes.
- Journal of Economic Perspectives,
, 2005
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Redundant Governance Structures: An Analysis of Structural and
- Relational Embeddedness in the Steel and Semiconductor Industries,” Strategic Management Journal
, 2000
"... Network researchers have argued that both relational embeddedness—characteristics of relationships—and structural embeddedness—characteristics of the relational structure— influence firm behavior and performance. Using strategic alliance networks in the semiconductor and steel industries, we build o ..."
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Cited by 244 (4 self)
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Network researchers have argued that both relational embeddedness—characteristics of relationships—and structural embeddedness—characteristics of the relational structure— influence firm behavior and performance. Using strategic alliance networks in the semiconductor and steel industries, we build on past embeddedness research by examining the interaction of these factors. We argue that the roles relational and structural embeddedness play in firm performance can only be understood with reference to the other. Moreover, we argue that the influence of these factors on firm performance is contingent on industry context. More specif-ically, our empirical analysis suggests that strong ties in a highly interconnected strategic alliance network negatively impact firm performance. This network configuration is especially suboptimal for firms in the semiconductor industry. Furthermore, strong and weak ties are positively related to firm performance in the steel and semiconductor industries, respectively. Copyright Ó 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Not that long ago, the notion that firms improve performance by cooperating with competitors would have been viewed as an oxymoronic
The strength of weak ties you can trust: the mediating role of trust in effective knowledge transfer
- Management Science
, 2004
"... Recent research suggests that people obtain useful knowledge from others with whom they work closely and frequently (i.e., strong ties). Yet there has been limited empirical work examining why this is so. Moreover, other research suggests that weak ties provide useful knowledge. To help integrate th ..."
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Cited by 239 (7 self)
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Recent research suggests that people obtain useful knowledge from others with whom they work closely and frequently (i.e., strong ties). Yet there has been limited empirical work examining why this is so. Moreover, other research suggests that weak ties provide useful knowledge. To help integrate these multiple findings, we propose and test a model of two-party (dyadic) knowledge exchange, with strong support in each of the three companies surveyed. First, the link between strong ties and receipt of useful knowledge (as reported by the knowledge seeker) was mediated by competence- and benevolence-based trust. Second, once we controlled for these two trust dimensions, the structural benefit of weak ties became visible. This latter finding is consistent with prior research suggesting that weak ties provide access to non-redundant information. Third, we found that competence-based trust was especially important for the receipt of tacit knowledge. We discuss implications for theory and practice. 2
Knowledge Networks as Channels and Conduits: The Effects of Spillovers in the Boston Biotechnology Community
, 2004
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Embeddedness in the making of financial capital: How social relations and networks benefit firms seeking financing
- American Sociological Review
, 1999
"... I investigate how social embeddedness affects an organization’s acquisition and cost of financial capital in middle-market banking—a lucrative but un-derstudied financial sector. Using existing theory and original fieldwork, I develop a framework to explain how embeddedness can influence which firms ..."
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Cited by 219 (1 self)
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I investigate how social embeddedness affects an organization’s acquisition and cost of financial capital in middle-market banking—a lucrative but un-derstudied financial sector. Using existing theory and original fieldwork, I develop a framework to explain how embeddedness can influence which firms get capital and at what cost. I then statistically examine my claims using national data on small-business lending. At the level of dyadic ties, I find that firms that embed their commercial transactions with their lender in social attachments receive lower interest rates on loans. At the network level, firms are more likely to get loans and to receive lower interest rates on loans if their network of bank ties has a mix of embedded ties and arm’s-length ties. These network effects arise because embedded ties motivate network partners to share private resources, while arm’s-length ties facilitate access to public information on market prices and loan opportunities so that the benefits of different types of ties are optimized within one network. I con-clude with a discussion of how the value produced by a network is at a pre-mium when it creates a bridge that links the public information of markets with the private resources of relationships. cess and costs in ways that are inadequately incorporated into financial theory (Baker
The network as knowledge: Generative rules and the emergence of structure
- Strategic Management Journal
"... The imputation problem is how to account for the sources of the value of the firm. I propose that part of the value of the firm derives from its participation in a network that emerges from the operation of generative rules that instruct the decision to cooperate. Whereas the value of firm-level cap ..."
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Cited by 192 (4 self)
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The imputation problem is how to account for the sources of the value of the firm. I propose that part of the value of the firm derives from its participation in a network that emerges from the operation of generative rules that instruct the decision to cooperate. Whereas the value of firm-level capabilities is coincidental with the firm as the unit of accrual, ownership claims to the value of coordination in a network pit firms potentially in opposition with one another. We analyze the work on network structure to suggest two types of mechanisms by which rents are distributed. This approach is applied to an analysis of the Toyota Production System to show how a network emerged, the rents were divided to support network capabilities, and capabilities were transferred to the United States. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. The thesis of this article is that a structure of a network is an emergent outcome generated by rules that guide the cooperative decisions of firms in specific competitive markets. The observed differences in the patterns of cooperation across industries are not happenstance. They reflect rather the implicit operation of these cooperative rules and the competing visions that come to shape a network. The emergence of the structural pattern of cooperation is not the result of an abstract and static choice between market or firm, or market versus hybrid cooperative forms of governance. Structure is emergent in the initial conditions of a specific industry. The structure of an industry is interesting, because it represents capabilities of coordination among firms, as well as claims on the property rights to profits to cooperation. The conventional emphasis on the opposition of market, contract Key words: networks; knowledge; value of the firm; rent distributors
The leveraging of interfirm relationships as a distinctive organisational capability: a longitudinal study
- Strategic Management Journal
, 1999
"... In this paper we present a study of the structure of three lead firm-network relationships at two points in time. Using data on companies in the packaging machine industry, we study the process of vertical disintegration and focus on the ability to coordinate competencies and combine knowledge acros ..."
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Cited by 177 (0 self)
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In this paper we present a study of the structure of three lead firm-network relationships at two points in time. Using data on companies in the packaging machine industry, we study the process of vertical disintegration and focus on the ability to coordinate competencies and combine knowledge across corporate boundaries. We argue that the capability to interact with other companies—which we call relational capability—accelerates the lead firm’s knowledge access and transfer with relevant effects on company growth and innovativeness. This study provides evidence that interfirm networks can be shaped and deliberately designed: over time managers develop a specialized supplier network and build a narrower and more competitive set of core competencies. The ability to integrate knowledge residing both inside and outside the firm’s boundaries emerges as a distinctive organizational capability. Our main goal is to contribute to the current discussion of cooperative ties and dynamic aspects of interfirm networks, adding new dimensions to resource-based and knowledge-based interpretations of company performance. Copyright Ó 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
