Topic
Resource dependence theory
About: Resource dependence theory is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2732 publications have been published within this topic receiving 184871 citations.
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TL;DR: In this paper, a growing form of interorganizational "multifaceted" relationship under "coopetition", where a buyer, supplier, and/or partner is also a competitor, is examined.
Abstract: This article examines a growing form of interorganizational "multifaceted" relationship under "coopetition," where a buyer, supplier, and/or partner is also a competitor. We first describe different types of such relationships and the strategic dilemmas they present. Then, using resource dependence and transaction cost theories, we consider the antecedent conditions for the formation of such relationships and discuss strategies for dealing with them. Finally, we consider questions for further study of these types of arrangements.
221 citations
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a resource dependence framework for network management that can encompass the existing models and their new data on the environment in which network management occurs, as well as a series of propositions that flow from their reconsideration of network management.
Abstract: Although policy and collaborative networks have been studied since the 1970s and 1980s, only recently has the management of these entities come under greater scrutiny. Studies of “network management” are designed to better understand the unique challenges of operating in a context where bureaucracy no longer provides the primary tool for “social steering.” These studies typically make three assumptions about networks, public managers, and the tasks of network management that empirical evidence from our casework in “Newstatia” suggests are suspect at best. If so, then network management theory needs to be reconsidered. The second half of this article begins this process. We have organized this article into six sections. The first defines policy and collaborative networks and discusses why analyzing them and their management independently is probably flawed. The second presents our data and justifications for believing the assumptions outlined above are oversimplifications. The third section reviews three perspectives and two partial models of network management and points out how the perspectives and models need integration. The fourth section develops a resource dependence framework for network management that can encompass the existing models and our new data on the environment in which network management occurs. The final section outlines a series of propositions that flow from our reconsideration of network management.
219 citations
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine whether top corporate executives maintain more informal ties to executives of other firms in order to manage uncertainty arising from resource dependence, and draw from theory and research on social embeddedness and friendship to suggest that the maintenance of friendship ties between top executives provides benefits that are comparable to the supposed benefits of board cooptation, while imposing fewer constraints on the organization.
Abstract: Research on organization–environment relations has focused primarily on formal linkages between organizations such as board interlock ties as a strategy for managing resource dependence. This study examines whether top corporate executives may maintain more informal ties to executives of other firms in order to manage uncertainty arising from resource dependence. Our point of departure is prior research on boards of directors that has examined whether so-called ‘broken board ties’ (i.e., ties that are disrupted due to executive turnover) tend to be reconstituted, and whether resource dependence explains the likelihood of reconstitution. These studies have generally provided little evidence that corporate board ties are used to manage resource dependence. We draw from theory and research on social embeddedness and friendship to suggest that, as a strategy for managing dependence, the maintenance of friendship ties between top executives provides benefits that are comparable to the supposed benefits of board cooptation, while imposing fewer constraints on the organization. Our theory leads to the contention that, despite limited prior evidence that resource dependence determines the formation of formal board ties, corporate leaders may nevertheless reconstitute informal (i.e., friendship) ties to leaders of other firms that have the power to constrain their firms' access to needed resources when those ties have been disrupted (e.g., due to turnover of the CEO's friend). We test our hypotheses with a unique dataset that includes survey data from U.S. corporate leaders collected at two points in time, thus permitting an assessment of whether top executives reconstitute broken social ties to leaders of other firms, and whether various sources of resource dependence predict the likelihood of reconstitution. We discuss implications for strategic perspectives on inter-organizational relations and the sociological literature on embeddedness. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
219 citations
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TL;DR: Li et al. as mentioned in this paper examined the boundary conditions concerning which types of firms and which type of ties help firms and further examined the relative impact of local and central ties on the television manufacturing industry in China.
Abstract: Several studies suggest that political ties help firms survive or perform but do not examine the boundary conditions concerning which types of firms and which type of ties help firms. We draw from resource dependence and resource-based theories to argue that political ties can improve both firm survival (labeled “buffering”) and performance (labeled “enabling”), with weaker firms gaining more from buffering and stronger firms gaining more from enabling. We further examine the relative impact of local and central ties. We test our hypotheses on the television manufacturing industry in China between 1993 and 2003. Results demonstrate the buffering roles of political ties, and under narrower conditions, their enabling roles. Local ties account for these outcomes, while central ties do not provide buffering or enabling benefits. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
217 citations
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TL;DR: Why the two questions of why successful firms differ are different is explained and some of the implications for the field of strategic management are explored.
Abstract: Much theory and research that apparently seeks to explain why firms differ actually addresses the question of why successful firms differ. This article explains why the two questions are different and explores some of the implications of this difference for the field of strategic management. A wide variety of organizational and economic theories are reviewed in this context, including contingency theory, resource dependence theory, process models, dispositional models, transaction cost economics, organizational ecology and institutional theory. Further discussion considers why heterogeneity persists at the firm level when it becomes apparent that only certain types of firms will succeed.
216 citations