In this article we offer a view that suggests that a firm's critical resources may span firm boundaries and may be embedded in interfirm resources and routines. We argue that an increasingly important unit of analysis for understanding competitive advantage is the relationship between firms and identify four potential sources of interorganizational competitive advantage: (1) relation-specific assets, (2) knowledge-sharing routines, (3) complementary resources/capabilities, and (4) effective governance. We examine each of these potential sources of rent in detail, identifying key subprocesses, and also discuss the isolating mechanisms that serve to preserve relational rents. Finally, we discuss how the relational view may offer normative prescriptions for firm-level strategies that contradict the prescriptions offered by those with a resource-based view or industry structure view.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/259056.pdf

The Relational View: Cooperative Strategy and Sources of Interorganizational Competitive Advantage

A growing number of sociologists, political scientists, economists, and organizational theorists have invoked the concept of social capital in the search for answers to a broadening range of questions being confronted in their own fields. Seeking to clarify the concept and help assess its utility for organizational theory, we synthesize the theoretical research undertaken in these various disciplines and develop a common conceptual framework that identifies the sources, benefits, risks, and contingencies of social capital.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/4134367.pdf

Social Capital: Prospects for a New Concept

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

http://onemvweb.com/sources/sources/network_structure_social_capital.pdf

The Network Structure Of Social Capital

Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) has received substantial conceptual and empirical attention, representing one of the few areas in entrepreneurship research where a cumulative body of knowledge i ...

/pdf/entrepreneurial-orientation-and-business-performance-an-1ji4v8g0n6.pdf

Entrepreneurial Orientation and Business Performance: An Assessment of Past Research and Suggestions for the Future

This study examined the influence of internal capabilities and external networks on firm performance by using data from 137 Korean technological start-up companies. Internal capabilities were operationalized by entrepreneurial orientation, technological capabilities, and financial resources invested during the development period. External networks were captured by partnership- and sponsorship-based linkages. Partnership-based linkages were measured by strategic alliances with other enterprises and venture capitalists, collaboration with universities or research institutes, and participation in venture associations. Sponsorship-based linkages consisted of financial and nonfinancial support from commercial banks and the Korean government. Sales growth indicated the start-up's performance. Regression results showed that the three indicators of internal capabilities are important predictors of a start-up's performance. Among external networks, only the linkages to venture capital companies predicted the start-up's performance. Several interaction terms between internal capabilities and partnership-based linkages have a statistically significant influence on performance. Sponsorship-based linkages do not have individual effects on performance but linkage with financial institutions has a multiplicative effect with technological capabilities and financial resources invested on a start-up's performance. Implications and directions for future research were discussed. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Internal capabilities, external networks, and performance: a study on technology‐based ventures

Using data on U.S. investment banking firms’ syndication in underwriting corporate stock offerings during the 1980s, this study explores the factors that drive alliance formation between two specific firms. We compare resource complementarity, status similarity, and social capital as a basis of alliance formation. The findings indicate that the likelihood of investment banks’ alliance formation is positively related to the complementarity of their capabilities, as well as their status similarity. Social capital arising from banks’ direct and indirect collaborative experiences also plays a very important role in alliance formation. The number of deals given by a lead bank to a potential partner over the past three years has an inverted U-shaped relationship to the probability that the lead bank will invite the potential partner to form an alliance. Our findings indicate that status similarity and social capital have a stronger effect on alliance formation in initial public offering deals than in secondary offering deals, as the former are more uncertain than the latter. Using these findings, we discuss the role of complementarity, status similarity, and social capital in alliance formation. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Complementarity, status similarity and social capital as drivers of alliance formation

This study examined the effect of human and social capital upon firm dissolution with data from a population of Dutch accounting firms for the period 1880–1990. Human capital was captured by firm-l...

Human capital, social capital, and firm dissolution

We integrate resource dependency and institutional theory to argue that resource scarcity drives, and legitimacy enables, institutional change. Building on a historical account, we examine the sources and timing of innovation departing from standard human resource practices using event history analysis of over 200 principal offices of large law firms. Offices with human resource scarcity innovated to acquire alternative resources; highly prestigious offices had the legitimacy to be first or early adopters. Our findings highlight the value of looking to the resource side and to the notion of legitimacy in building an institutional theory of change.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/3069287.pdf

Institutional change in large law firms: a resource dependency and institutional perspective

This study examined the effect of human and social capital upon firm dissolution with data from a population of Dutch accounting firms for the period 1880-1990. Human capital was captured by firm-level proxies for firm tenure, industry experience, and graduate education. The social capital proxy was professionals' ties to potential clients. Human and social capital strongly predicted firm dissolution, and effects depended on their specificity (uniqueness) and nonappropriability (the ownership status of that capital). Findings suggest an integration of the resource-based view of the firm and organizational ecology and a concomitant stimulant for future research along these lines.

Kyungmook Lee

Papers

Internal capabilities, external networks, and performance: a study on technology‐based ventures

Complementarity, status similarity and social capital as drivers of alliance formation

Human capital, social capital, and firm dissolution

Institutional change in large law firms: a resource dependency and institutional perspective

Human capital, social capital, and firm dissolution