We examine how social capital dimensions of networks affect the transfer of knowledge between network members. We distinguish among three common network types: intracorporate networks, strategic alliances, and industrial districts. Using a social capital framework, we identify structural, cognitive, and relational dimensions for the three network types. We then link these social capital dimensions to the conditions that facilitate knowledge transfer. In doing so, we propose a set of conditions that promote knowledge transfer for the different network types.

Social Capital, Networks, and Knowledge Transfer

Strategic alliances have been recognized as arenas with potential for opportunistic behavior by partners. Hence, a firm needs to have an adequate level of confidence in its partner's cooperative behavior. In this article we examine the notion of confidence in partner cooperation in alliances and suggest that it comes from two distinct sources: trust and control. We make the argument that trust and control are parallel concepts and that their relationship is of a supplementary character in generating confidence. In addition, we suggest that control mechanisms have an impact on trust level and that the trust level moderates the effect of control mechanisms in determining the control level. Finally, we discuss various ways to build trust within strategic alliances and important alliance control mechanisms.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/259291.pdf

Between Trust and Control: Developing Confidence in Partner Cooperation in Alliances

Social Structure and Alliance Formation Patterns: A Longitudinal Analysis

How do organizations make strategic choices during the time of fundamental institutional transitions such as those sweeping numerous emerging economies? To answer this question, a two-phase model of institutional transitions is developed in this article. I focus on the longitudinal process to move from a relationship-based, personalized transaction structure calling for a network-centered strategy to a rule-based, impersonal exchange regime suggesting a market-centered strategy. I then identify the points of inflection; predict strategic choices for incumbent, entrepreneurial, and foreign firms; and delineate their performance implications.

Institutional Transitions and Strategic Choices

A Resource-Based Theory of Strategic Alliances

This article reports a comparative case study of four international joint ventures created between the United States and the People’s Republic of China. The findings of this study suggest that the relative bargaining power of potential joint-venture partners significantly contributes to the structural configuration of the joint venture with respect to parent control, and that the structure of management control exercised by the parents affects venture performance. Several informal control mechanisms interacting with formal control structure and influencing performance are identified. The article also investigates the dynamic evolution of joint ventures over time as a result of changes in the environment, adjustments in the parents’ strategies, mutual learning between the partners, and the maturity of the joint venture. Finally, an integrative model is presented and several propositions for future research are offered.

/pdf/bargaining-power-management-control-and-performance-in-3nbh72xqcs.pdf

Bargaining power, management control, and performance in united states-china joint ventures: a comparative case study

This paper conducts an in-depth critique of previous research on international joint venture instability by pointing out its major limitations: lack of clear conceptualizations and consistent operationalizations, lack of clarity in the relationship with performance, static focus on the eventual destination rather than developmental processes, and lack of managerial relevance. To overcome these deficiencies, we propose a significant reconceptualization in which instability is defined as a neutral, dynamic, process-based, and multifaceted phenomenon. Directions for future research are provided.

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1057%2Fpalgrave.jibs.8490076.pdf

International Joint Venture Instability: A Critique of Previous Research, A Reconceptualization, and Directions for Future Research

We present a theoretical model of international assignments in which we examine the alignment or nonalignment of the organization's and the individual's expectations of an assignment and its effect on assignment success. We consider four basic configurations in our model—mutual loyalty, mutual transaction, agent opportunism, and principal opportunism—and present a matrix of organization-individual alignment to help predict varying degrees of success in expatriate assignment and in repatriation. Finally, we apply this matrix as a framework for understanding changes in the employment contract over time.

International Assignments for Career Building: A Model of Agency Relationships and Psychological Contracts

The purpose of this article is to promote an open systems perspective on team research. The authors develop a model of team boundary activities: boundary spanning, buffering, and reinforcement. The model examines the relationship between these boundary activities and team performance, the moderating effects of organizational contextual factors, and the mediating effect of team psychological safety on the boundary work-performance relationship. These relationships were empirically tested with data collected from 64 software development teams. Boundary spanning, buffering, and boundary reinforcement were found to relate to team performance and psychological safety. Both relationships are moderated by the team's task uncertainty and resource scarcity. The implications of the findings are offered for future research and practice.

http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/apl/94/3/604.pdf

Boundary work in knowledge teams.

Using a sample of 90 US-China manufacturing joint ventures, this study empirically tested a grounded-theory model of the antecedents and the effects of the structure of parent management control in international joint ventures. The results suggest that competitive and cooperative dynamics occur simultaneously between joint venture partners. On one hand, the relative bargaining power between the partners, derived from the negotiation context and from contributing critical resources to the venture, respectively, is a determining factor in management control; and the level of operational control exercised by a partner over the venture has a positive effect on the extent to which this partner`s strategic objectives are achieved. On the other hand, the quality of the interpartner working relationship was found to have a strong, positive relationship with the achievement of strategic objectives for both partners.

Aimin Yan

Papers

Bargaining power, management control, and performance in united states-china joint ventures: a comparative case study

International Joint Venture Instability: A Critique of Previous Research, A Reconceptualization, and Directions for Future Research

International Assignments for Career Building: A Model of Agency Relationships and Psychological Contracts

Boundary work in knowledge teams.

Antecedents and Effects of Parent Control in International Joint Ventures