Search results

Developments in Information Technology (IT) are perceived to be a major driver of interorganizational cooperation, both within and across industry boundaries. These developments have challenged the creation of interorganizational competitive advantages, as conceptualized in the Relational View (e.g. Dyer & Singh, 1998). The relationship between IT and effectuated interorganizational competitive advantage, however, is still unclear. This chapter is a first attempt to shed light on this unexplored area in the literature. We focus our analysis on developing a conceptual framework of the relationship between IT and interorganizational resource complementarity, which is an important determinant of interorganizational competitive advantage. Our framework suggests that cooperating organizations need to develop three distinctive but interrelated capabilities in order to effectuate interorganizational resource complementarity by means of IT. It is proposed that these capabilities give rise to interorganizational competence building, forming a pre-condition for achieving interorganizational competitive advantage. Preliminary support for our framework and proposition is provided by a brief case study of an interorganizational relationship between a large European financial services firm and a major European telecommunication firm.

This paper aims to examine how integration modes impact the acquirer knowledge diffusion capacity of overseas mergers and acquisitions (M&As) effected by emerging market firms and the role played by the global innovation network position of the acquiring firms in affecting this relationship.

Through the use of structural equation modelling and bootstrap testing, the hypotheses are tested by drawing upon a sample of 102 overseas M&As effected by listed Chinese manufacturing companies.

The results show that acquirers from emerging countries are unable to increase the knowledge diffusion capacity unless they choose the right post-merger integration mode. This paper also finds that the relationship between integration mode and knowledge diffusion is channelled through the centrality and structural holes of acquirers in the global innovation networks. When considering the combinations of different resource similarities and complementarities of the acquired firms, differences emerge in the integration model and network embedded path of acquirers in emerging countries.

Emerging market multinational enterprises should consider post-merger integration as a crucial facilitator to the crafting of global innovation network positions that promote knowledge diffusion. The choices of integration mode and brand management autonomy should be matched with the resource similarities and complementarities that exist between the acquirer and target firms.

Based on the resource orchestration theory and by focussing on network centrality and structural hole as the crucial links, this study provides a nuanced understanding of the relationship between post-merger integration and knowledge diffusion and sheds light on latecomer firms from emerging countries.

The present study develops a multi-theoretic framework of the mechanisms of value creation in interorganizational relationships and of the key factors influencing those mechanisms. The integrative use of several theories in building the model is justified by numerous studies suggesting that a multi-theoretic approach is required to understand the complexity of interorganizational relationships (Gulati, 1998; Osborn & Hagedoorn, 1997; Park et al., 2002). We believe that the relationships between start-up companies and their corporate investors, with each party holding a diversity of strategic and financial objectives, are not less complex than other potential interorganizational relationships. They may therefore also require ideas from several theories to be properly understood. In this study, we build the models applying primarily the resource-based and the knowledge-based views, as well as social capital theory. Ideas from other theoretical approaches are used to complement these theories.

Covid has increased the usage of multisided digital platforms. For companies, this has become a business opportunity. Data usage on platforms requires that platform companies co-create services for common customers. In this case, the target is not to make the same value proposition but rather to use the resources such as data, knowledge, technology, or institutions in a complementary manner. Platforms are characterized as a combination of hardware and software including standards, interfaces, and rules making it possible for different ecosystem players to complement and interact in the ecosystem. Current ecosystems include several platforms that do not work without resource integration. The purpose of this study is to increase understanding what do we mean by resource complementarity in service ecosystems.

This study was done via an in-depth qualitative case study in which a health service ecosystem co-creating technological surgery innovation was used as a unit of analysis.

The authors’ findings suggest that key resource capabilities, to enable complementarity in service ecosystems, are motivation, knowledge, skills, data and complementary designed technology components.

The authors’ study increases theoretical understanding of what does one mean by construct of resource complementarity.

From a managerial perspective, it is shown that organizations need to develop adaptive capabilities to utilize internal and external competencies and resources and enable co-creative processes within the service ecosystem.

Very few empirical studies in the marketing literature have focused on multi-sided digital platforms and their resource complementarity in the data-driven healthcare ecosystem settings.

The purpose of this paper is to enhance understanding on supply chain partnership strategy-environment context co-alignment and its relationship with performance. Using the environment-strategy-performance view framework and the supporting relational perspective, the study develops a model and hypotheses to understand how supply chain partnership strategy as a response to co-align with operating context elements may impact operational and overall firm performance. Additionally, the study investigates the interrelationships among partnership strategy elements.

Data for testing the hypothesized relationships in the conceptual model was collected through a survey of managers in the Hoover’s database of US manufacturing firms. The survey sample included 115 responses from a wide variety of manufacturing forms.

Findings support the conventional wisdom relating collaboration to operational and financial performance. While product complexity associates with the “building block” resources, resource complementarity and resource specificity, technological turbulence relates significantly with only resource specificity. Interestingly, competitive intensity associates differentially with the resources – positive with resource specificity and negatively with resource complementarity. The results also reveal mediating influences of resource specificity and collaboration.

The research findings have to be considered in context. The moderate size, wide industry/firm diversity and robust research design notwithstanding, and the cross-firm nature can potentially obscure causal linkages. Besides, more comprehensive insights could be obtained by modeling the co-alignment of strategy with other factors in the operating context such as industry munificence, and market unpredictability.

Firms derive operational and financial performance benefits from close collaboration with partners since the operational enhancements from such relationships have customer service implications. Besides, the synergistic interrelationships among strategic partnership resources and their eventual impact on operational and financial performance is highlighted suggesting that firms develop a proper mix of unique and complementing set of resources and leverage them through collaborative behaviors. Importantly, the results provide a framework for managers to understand the criticality of aligning their resources with contextual elements to realize enhanced operational efficiencies, customer service, and financial benefits.

Much of the evidence on the rent generation capabilities in supply chain partnerships is still anecdotal and extant empirical research lacks adequate explanation. Thus this study offers an initial strategic response framework for an appropriate co-alignment of partnership resources with environmental context factors to realize operational benefits and overall financial performance. The framework answers the critical question: does a supply chain partnership strategy that matches “fit” or co-aligns with its critical operating environment context realize better performance? Additionally, it unravels the interrelationships among strategic partnership resources.

This study aims to investigate the relationship between trust and performance in international joint ventures (IJVs) with the moderating effects of the structural mechanisms from transaction cost approach.

Using web-survey, data are collected from 89 IJVs of Northern European firms in Asia, Europe and America. Empirical data are analyzed with structural equation modeling and estimates moderating effects of symmetric dependence, symmetric equity share and resource complementarity.

The findings offer some interesting insights for transaction cost and the social exchange theory. This study demonstrates that a symmetric equity share between IJV partners does not moderate the trust–performance relationship, while a symmetric dependence and resource complementarity between partners effect positively. Therefore, trust takes on greater importance in enhancing IJV performance under symmetric dependence and resource complementarity and symmetric equity share between IJV partners deprecates the importance of equity distribution.

A symmetric dependence prevents the deceit from either partner in trusting relationships. Further, a trustful relationship enhances IJV performance regardless of the equity share in IJVs. IJVs with asymmetric equity share can also be successful, provided that IJV partners develop inter-partner trust.

The extant research has not examined how the trust–performance relationship is contingent on structural mechanisms of IJVs that transaction cost economics deem necessary to prevent opportunistic behavior. Three structural mechanisms of symmetric dependence, symmetric equity share and resource complementarity moderate the trust–performance relationship in IJVs.

We argue that resource-based view (RBV) researchers must take into account three interdependencies, (i) intrafirm resource complementarity, (ii) interfirm resource complementarity or rivalry, and (iii) compatibility or incompatibility of firm resources to broader socio-economic institutions, when attempting to empirically verify the RBV. However, these interdependencies lead to three potential causes of statistical bias, which can reduce the interpretability of such empirical examinations. First, omitted variable bias results from a researcher's inability to find and include in empirical analyses appropriate operationalizations of constructs. Second, selection bias can arise when a researcher samples only from one subset of the population, and not others. Bias in estimates can occur if a correlation between unobserved determinants of the outcome and factors affecting the selection process exist. Finally, joint dependence, where two explanatory variables are themselves mutual determinants, can lead to biased estimation.

This study empirically aims to examine the collaboration between social enterprises (SEs) and impact investors (IIs), which are organisations with similar interests but with distinct logics, and in high demand in emerging economies with complex problems. Despite the significant economic contributions of these organisations, there have been limited studies examining how they collaborate in different contexts, including theoretical insights explaining how they gain partner fit from resource synergy.

Mainstream businesses use the compatibility and complementarity concepts to examine buyer–supplier strategic alliances. Using similar concepts in the context of hybrid organisations, the authors interviewed six pairs of SEs and IIs with dyadic relations in Nigeria, aiming to deeply understand how they align dissimilar logics in pursuing common goals in emerging economies.

The authors’ findings revealed how compatibility criteria from the institutional logics perspective and complementarity from social exchange theory guide collaboration between SEs and IIs in an emerging economy. Using these theories provides new insights that distinguish SEs and IIs collaboration from conventional theories on the internationalisation of businesses, which remained insufficient for understanding the cross-border operations of SEs.

The study holds practical implications for organisations, regardless of their size, international investors, governments, organisations and individuals desiring to pursue sustainable business agendas in emerging economies with huge impact opportunities and the process involved.

The outcomes of this study extend knowledge of the theoretical lens examining collaborative entrepreneurship from the perspective of hybrid organisations. It also challenged existing knowledge on collaboration between SEs and IIs, often characterised by potential tensions due to the dissimilarity of institutional logics of actors.

Through examining the two constructs of inter-organizational complementarity and inter-organizational compatibility in supply chains, the purpose of this paper is to develop a taxonomy of focal firms’ inter-organizational fit (IOF) configurations with their suppliers and customers, and examine the relationship between these configurations and environmental innovation (EI) in order to answer the question of “with whom” to collaborate for EI development.

A survey instrument was elaborated and data from a sample of 171 US firms were collected. The authors adopted cluster analysis to identify the IOF taxonomy. Canonical discriminant analysis was employed to uncover underlying dimensions between clustering variables and cluster membership. Then, ANOVA tests were conducted to investigate relationships between IOF configurations in the context of EI in supply chains.

Three configurations were identified based on the complementarity and compatibility between focal firms and their supply chain partners. It is observed that the overall IOF level is positively related to firms’ EI outcomes. Moreover, inter-organizational complementarity facilitates incremental EI while inter-organizational compatibility plays a more crucial role in radical EI. Both are required to achieve the best innovation outcome.

This research develops the first taxonomy for depicting IOF in a supply chain innovation context and also clarifies different rationale behind the development of incremental and radical EI through examining distinctive effects of the complementarity and compatibility with supply chain partners.

This study is a replication of Wolff and Reed’s (2000) work. The purpose of this paper is to examine how the combination of resources brought to joint ventures influence parent-firm performance. This study is also interested in whether or not the exposure of immobile resources through the semi-transparent membrane of the joint venture can have negative effects on parent-firm performance.

The sample consists of two-parent joint ventures formed by publicly traded US firms between 1997 and 2013. The event-study methodology is used to calculate each parent-firm’s abnormal returns. This work also uses content analysis to analyze parent-firms’ annual reports (10-K).

While Wolff and Reed’s results on resource allocation within joint ventures were not statistically significant, this replication study provided strong support to the resource allocation hypothesis. It was found that intangible resource heterogeneity within a joint venture creates higher performance gains for parent-firms than tangible resource heterogeneity. This work also successfully replicated Wolff and Reed’s findings on the negative impact of immobile resources exposure on parent-firm performance. Wolff and Reed’s results on resource complementarity were, however, not successfully replicated.

This replication study goes beyond simply showing that engaging in a joint venture strategy creates value for parent-firms. Through the use of a new content analysis method, this study was able to provide strong support for Wolff and Reed’s theory on the performance gains provided by resource heterogeneity in a joint venture setting, and to confirm the results on potential adverse performance effects of immobile resources exposure.