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The purpose of this paper is to examine how over-reliance on buyer-supplier relational capital (created through the interconnected supply chain and social network) impacts firm performance in the context of the emerging market, i.e. India.

The study uses the Prowess database (on Indian firms) to identify the firms that rely heavily on relational capital and employs panel data regression analyses to test the effect of relational capital on firm performance (supply chain performance and financial performance).

The results show that over-reliance on relational capital leads to lower supply chain performance (proxied by supply chain cycle) and financial performance (proxied by Tobin's Q). The results also reveal that supply chain performance mediates the relationship between over-reliance on relational capital and financial performance. Together, these results indicate that over-reliance on relational capital created through the interconnected supply chain and social network for supply chain management may negatively affect a firm's competitive advantage, which in turn can significantly impede its financial performance.

In light of the supply chain literature and relevant theories, the study develops an objective understanding of over-reliance relational capital created through the interconnected supply chain and social network, by relying on a large panel dataset of manufacturing firms and hence contributes to the supply chain literature. Also, it presents a novel idea to operationalize the measure for relational capital using the Prowess database.

The study this chapter reports focuses on how network theory contributes to the understanding of the internationalization process of SMEs and measures the effect of network capability on performance in international trade and has three research objectives.

The first objective of the study relates to providing new insights into the international market development activities through the application of a network perspective. The chapter reviews the international business literature to ascertain the development of thought, the research gaps, and the shortcomings. This review shows that the network perspective is a useful and popular theoretical domain that researchers can use to understand international activities, particularly of small, high technology, resource-constrained firms.

The second research objective is to gain a deeper understanding of network capability. This chapter presents a model for the impact of network capability on international performance by building on the emerging literature on the dynamic capabilities view of the firm. The model conceptualizes network capability in terms of network characteristics, network operation, and network resources. Network characteristics comprise strong and weak ties (operationalized as foreign-market entry modes), relational capability, and the level of trust between partners. Network operation focuses on network initiation, network coordination, and network learning capabilities. Network resources comprise network human-capital resources, synergy-sensitive resources (resource combinations within the network), and information sharing within the network.

The third research objective is to determine the impact of networking capability on the international performance of SMEs. The study analyzes 11 hypotheses through structural equations modeling using LISREL. The hypotheses relate to strong and weak ties, the relative strength of strong ties over weak ties, and each of the eight remaining constructs of networking capability in the study. The research conducts a cross-sectional study by using a sample of SMEs drawn from the telecommunications industry in Ireland.

The study supports the hypothesis that strong ties are more influential on international performance than weak ties. Similarly, network coordination and human-capital resources have a positive and significant association with international performance. Strong ties, weak ties, trust, network initiation, synergy-sensitive resources, relational capability, network learning, and information sharing do not have a significant association with international performance. The results of this study are strong (R2=0.63 for performance as the outcome) and provide a number of interesting insights into the relations between collaboration or networking capability and performance.

This study provides managers and policy makers with an improved understanding of the contingent effects of networks to highlight situations where networks might have limited, zero, or even negative effects on business outcomes. The study cautions against the tendency to interpret networks as universally beneficial to business development and performance outcomes.

Taking a social network perspective, the purpose of this paper is to develop a framework for the assurance of food safety via relational networking.

The authors consider both informal and formal relational networking, and explore a firm’s learning orientation, risk aversion and consumer pressure as potential precursors to such relational networking. It is further hypothesized that relational networking generates both industry and supply chain knowledge, which is suggested to be beneficial for contamination detection. The model is tested with survey data collected among food-producing firms in India, the world’s second largest food producer.

The authors find a positive influence of consumer pressure on both a firm’s learning orientation and risk aversion, which in turn affect both informal and formal relational networking. Informal networking further generated industry knowledge and was beneficial for contamination detection. Formal relational networking influenced supply chain knowledge, which in turn enabled contamination detection.

Recent food product-related safety breaches, which have, in the worst case, led to fatalities, illustrate the importance of food safety in supply chains. This study represents the first systematic investigation of relational networking in the context of food safety from the perspective of social network theory.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the manufacturer that occupies the central position in the triadic supply chain is capable of enhancing relationships within both dyads to produce the network rent and extra profit shared among all supply chain actors.

The paper opted for an exploratory study using a survey of triads forming supply chains. To reveal the capability of yielding the network rent in the examined triads, multiple regression analysis with Interaction effects was used. Having confirmed the existence of supernormal profit, the partial least square path model was developed to investigate the effects of manufacturer structural embeddedness on relational embeddedness and the resulting impact on the network rent.

The obtained findings show that manufacturer structural embeddedness has a direct and positive effect on relational embeddedness and relational embeddedness of two dyads (represented as a higher order factor) has a direct and positive effect on the network rent. In addition, relational embeddedness mediates the positive relationship between manufacturer structural embeddedness and network rent, as the null model with no mediation appears to underestimate the direct and positive effect between manufacturer structural embeddedness and the network rent.

The study makes three key contributions. First, it extends the application of both relational and structural embeddedness to grasp the network architecture of the triadic supply chain. Second, the concept of manufacturer structural embeddedness is used to elaborate on the role of the manufacturer in establishing relationships of high quality with the supplier and the customer. In connection to the previous point, the calculated network rent demonstrates that establishing collaborative relationships in triadic supply chains may bring a significant supernormal profit, derived as the outcome of mutual interplay between the relational performances of two dyads.

The study shows that manufacturers intending to use their central position to develop collaborative relationships with both partners, and the supplier and the customer, ought to appreciate the role of social ties embedded in interorganizational networks. The paper also implies that in parallel with using formal contracts as a governance mechanism, the manufacturer centrally positioned in the triadic supply chains ought to deliberately shape relational embeddedness of both dyads. Finally, managers can consider the ways to enhance relational embeddedness in a triad by improving relational embeddedness of a certain dyad.

This study provides a novel framework for studying two basic dimensions of embeddedness (structural and relational) and their impact on the network rent in triadic supply chains that goes beyond the dyadic perspective and incorporates the extended supply chain.

I draw on psychological and sociological theories of affect to depict the relatively stable set of moods and emotions that an individual experiences in social interactions with a given person (relational affect) as a fundamental engine of social action influencing both how and with whom employees perform assigned tasks. I discuss an approach to define and measure relational affect that complements the typical network approach to affect. I then explore motivational mechanisms through which relational affect influences task tie formation and functioning. I conclude that relational affect contributes directly to individuals’ ability to achieve task goals, and to organizational functioning generally.

A literature gap has triggered a discussion on the influence of relational pluralism in the adoption of new practices of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Based on this literature, this paper aims to understand how relational pluralism influences small companies in the development of their collective CSR strategies.

This study used the case of a Brazilian hotel network called Charm Routes, which comprises 66 members. The study adopted a qualitative approach based on qualitative comparative analysis (QCA).

The results show that relational pluralism influences small companies in their collective CSR strategies. This is especially because of the relationships among different actors within the network.

QCA does not explain the correlation between variables, but rather the logical relations among them. The adoption of multivariate techniques is suggested for future studies to evaluate the correlations among the variables and not only the possible causal conditions.

The results bring added clarity to the collective CSR strategies of networks composed of small companies.

The findings may be of use to networks of small companies working collectively to develop initiatives aimed at providing social and environmental benefits.

Instead of a framework, the study generated the expression RPN*(INT+LON) → CSR_CS. This means that relational pluralism within the network, enhanced by the intensity and the longevity of the relationship, influences small companies in the development of their collective CSR strategies.

This study aims to examine an empirical evidence of the relationship between relational capital, network competence and market entry capabilities on marketing performance in small- and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs’) furniture export orientation in Central Java, Indonesia.

This study uses a quantitative research approach to investigate the relationship between relational capital, network competence, market entry capabilities and marketing performance. To achieve the research objectives, data were collected from managers or owners of furniture export orientation in Central Java, Indonesia. Using structural equation modeling, and after a series of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyzed, the authors tested an integrated model of the relationship between relational capital, network competence, market entry capabilities and marketing performance.

The result of this study indicates that relational capital has a positive significant effect on marketing performance. Relational capital has an insignificant effect on market entry capabilities. Network competence has a positive effect on market entry capabilities. Market entry capabilities have a positive effect on marketing performance. Other results also show that market entry capabilities can mediate the influence of network competence and marketing performance.

The limitation of this research indicates that respondents in this research are very varied, if it is seen from their background into furniture business development, whereas many respondents do not have enough understanding of the questionnaire distributed. This research is only developed at the SMEs’ furniture area, so it cannot be generalized at the other organizational area. The influencing of relational capital result in market entry capability has not suitable with theory built. It is because inaccurate dimension market entry capability has been applied in this research. For future research, it is suggested to look for alternative dimension of market entry capability.

Based on the analysis results and discussion, it can be formulated that managerial implication explains the following steps: first, a company should focus on long-period relationship development. Focus on long-period relationship development will increase customer loyalty and company performance. Moreover, the customer has long-term relationship with organization, although instability condition because of the belief in long-period relationship and strong commitment to each other. The evidence from this study suggests that’s the organization needs to develop the long-term relationship with customer. Second, networking competency is important in market entry capability. Relationship can change anytime; therefore, the company has to have a strong competency of network developing. This competency helps company to enhance strong relationship. The strong network relationship helps company face easier ways in market entry capability.

The results of this research indicate that the role played by relational capital to increase market entry capability is not as good as the role played by network capability on market entry capability. In the international market context, the role of resource-based view is better than that of transaction cost economy in influencing market entry capability. Other results also show that market entry capabilities can mediate the influence of network competence and marketing performance.

The purpose of this paper is to disentangle individual-level gender differences and norm-based gender roles and stereotypes to provide a finer-grained understanding of why female and male entrepreneurs experience different growth returns from their social networks across different national cultures.

This research uses a survey of 637 (278 female and 359 male) entrepreneurs across four nations varying on relational culture (importance of social relationships) and gender egalitarianism (importance of gender equality or neutrality in social and economic roles).

The authors find evidence that male entrepreneurs in high relational cultures benefit the most in terms of growth in revenues from larger network size while women in low relational cultures benefit the least. In cultures with low gender egalitarianism, male entrepreneurs benefit more from their larger social networks than did the female entrepreneurs.

The study presents implications for female entrepreneurs’ behaviors to gain more benefits from their social networks, especially in cultural contexts where relationships are important or where there is equality in gender roles. In these contexts, they may need to develop other strategies and rely less on social networks to grow their ventures.

This research suggests that female entrepreneurs still are disadvantaged in some societies. National policy may focus on developing more opportunities and providing more support to women entrepreneurs as a valuable contributor to economic growth of the nations.

The authors disentangle the effects of gender differences, norm-based gender stereotypes and networks on entrepreneurial outcomes.

The purpose of this paper is to explore that relational capability plays a mediator role in the relationship between focal enterprises' control on knowledge transfer risks in R&D network.

The paper reviews the related literature from which it proposes a theoretical hypothesis and conceptual framework which is tested empirically adopting regression methodology by mathematical statistics software.

The results reveal that focal enterprises' control (core technological capability and network position) have a positive effect on knowledge transfer risks without the mediation of relational capability. Moreover, relational capability mediates the positive relationship between core technological capability and knowledge transfer risks.

The cross-sectional data of this research has difficult in testing causality between the variables, and future research should take account of the potential factors that can impact on knowledge transfer risks.

The results provide more valuable information to managers in alleviating knowledge transfer risks in R&D networks. For one thing, the study indicates how focal firms' control (core technological capability and network position) can be taken advantage of improving R&D efficiency and reducing the knowledge transfer risks. For another, the results emphasize that relational capability plays an important role in interacting with cooperative enterprises in the process of R&D activities.

Few studies present a theoretical discussion on focal firms control as the important determinants of knowledge transfer risks especially in the R&D network. Moreover it expands the related risk management theory by relational capability that mediates the relationship between focal firms control and knowledge transfer risks.

Relational cohesion theory posits that relational cohesion helps build relationships among communication partners, implying that users would expect a growth in relations or making more friends in the future. However, little is known about expectancy of a better future state of relations, i.e. expectancy of relational growth, and its impact on users' continued engagement in online communication. Our study extends relational cohesion theory to explain how expectancy of relational growth impacts online gamer loyalty.

We test the framework using structural equation modeling to analyze a large sample of 1,429 responses from online gamers.

We find that expectancy of relational growth is positively related to norm compliance and relational cohesion, which are further related to network convergence and interdependence, fostering online gamer loyalty.

The findings contribute to relational cohesion theory by identifying novel sources of relational cohesion, i.e. expectancy of relational growth and norm compliance. Hence, game providers should create gamers' expectancy of growth in online relationships. Such expectancy could motivate continued gaming communication, even when gamers are not satisfied with the current state of online relationships. Moreover, we propose the new concept of expectancy of relational growth, which should have a strong impact on online communication in various areas.