Network resources and knowledge alliances

Emerald - 2010
RobertHuggins1
1Centre for International Competitiveness, Cardiff School of Management, University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, UK

Tóm tắt

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to propose a theoretical framework to distinguish different forms of network resource that govern knowledge‐based alliances and facilitate innovation.Design/methodology/approachThe paper seeks to build theory through a critical analysis of the relevant literature.FindingsThe paper draws on the notion of network resources to better understand those assets firms have at their disposal to facilitate knowledge‐based interactions and relationships that catalyze innovation. It seeks to integrate the concept of social capital, which the paper argues largely concerns resources related to the social relations and networks held by those individuals within a particular firm. As a means of describing and identifying network resources that are more strategically held by the firm as a whole, the paper introduces the concept of network capital. Network capital is defined as consisting of investments in calculative relations by firms through which they gain access to knowledge to enhance expected economic returns. Therefore, the paper argues that it is possible to make a distinction between the two types of network resource: network capital and social capital.Research limitations/implicationsMaking a distinction between network capital and social capital is relevant to both scholars and decision‐makers as it provides a framework for analyzing the underlying complexity of inter‐firm networks and variability across a range of dimensions, conditions and contingencies. It also provides a framework for evaluating which networks a firm can or cannot manage and invest in to meet its requirements.Originality/valueThe paper develops a new and more refined framework for analyzing and evaluating knowledge‐based alliances and innovation‐driven networks between firms and other actors.

Từ khóa


Tài liệu tham khảo

Adler, P.S. and Kwon, S.W. (2002), “Social capital: prospects for a new concept”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 27, pp. 17‐40.

Almeida, P., Dokko, G. and Rosenkopf, L. (2003), “Start‐up size and the mechanisms of external learning: increasing opportunity and decreasing ability?”, Research Policy, Vol. 32, pp. 301‐15.

Anderson, A., Park, J. and Jack, S. (2007), “Entrepreneurial social capital: conceptualizing social capital in new high‐tech firms”, International Small Business Journal, Vol. 25, pp. 245‐72.

Annen, K. (2003), “Social capital, inclusive networks, and economic performance”, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Vol. 50, pp. 449‐63.

Arrow, K.J. (1971), Essays in the Theory of Risk‐Bearing, North‐Holland, Amsterdam.

Arthur, B. (1989), “Competing technologies and lock‐in by historical events: the dynamics of allocation under increasing returns”, Economic Journal, Vol. 99, pp. 116‐31.

Barney, J. (1991), “Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage”, Journal of Management, Vol. 17, pp. 99‐120.

Beckman, C.M., Haunschild, P.R. and Phillips, D.J. (2004), “Friends or strangers? Firm‐specific uncertainty, market uncertainty, and network partner selection”, Organization Science, Vol. 15, pp. 259‐75.

Bell, G.G. (2005), “Clusters, networks, and firm innovativeness”, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 26, pp. 287‐95.

Borgatti, S.P. and Foster, P.C. (2003), “The network paradigm in organizational research: a review and typology”, Journal of Management, Vol. 29, pp. 991‐1013.

Bourdieu, P. (1986), “The forms of capital”, in Richardson, J.G. (Ed.), Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education, Greenwood, New York, NY.

Brandenburger, A. and Nalebuff, B.J. (1996), Co‐opetition, Doubleday, New York, NY.

Brown, J.S. and Duguid, P. (2001), “Knowledge and organization: a social‐practice perspective”, Organization Science, Vol. 12, pp. 198‐213.

Casson, M. and Della Giusta, M. (2007), “Entrepreneurship and social capital: analysing the impact of social networks on entrepreneurial activity from a rational action perspective”, International Small Business Journal, Vol. 25, pp. 220‐44.

Chesbrough, H. (2003), Open Innovation: The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA.

Coleman, J.S. (1988), “Social capital in the creation of human capital”, American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 94, Supplement, pp. 95‐120.

Cooke, P. (2007), “Regional innovation systems, asymmetric knowledge and the legacies of learning”, in Rutten, R. and Boekema, F. (Eds), The Learning Region: Foundations, State of the Art, Future, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, pp. 184‐205.

Dasgupta, P. (2005), “The economics of social capital”, The Economic Record, Vol. 81, pp. S2‐21.

Drucker, P.F. (1989), The New Realities: In Government and Politics/In Economics and Business/In Society and World View, Harper & Row, New York, NY.

Dyer, J.H. and Singh, H. (1998), “The relational view: cooperative strategy and sources of interorganizational competitive advantage”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 23, pp. 660‐79.

Fleming, L., King, C. and Juda, A.I. (2007), “Small worlds and regional innovation”, Organization Science, Vol. 18, pp. 938‐54.

Foley, M.W. and Edwards, B. (1999), “Is it time to disinvest in social capital?”, Journal of Public Policy, Vol. 19, pp. 141‐73.

Gertler, M.S. and Levitte, Y.M. (2005), “Local nodes in global networks: the geography of knowledge flows in biotechnology”, Industry and Innovation, Vol. 12, pp. 487‐507.

Gertler, M.S. and Wolfe, D. (2004), “Ontario's regional innovation system”, in Cooke, P., Heidenreich, M. and Braczyk, H. (Eds), Regional Innovation Systems: The Role of Governance in a Globalised World, Routledge, London, pp. 107‐47.

Giuliani, E. (2007), “The selective nature of knowledge networks in clusters: evidence from the wine industry”, Journal of Economic Geography, Vol. 7 No. 2, pp. 139‐68.

Glückler, J. (2007), “Economic geography and the evolution of networks”, Journal of Economic Geography, Vol. 7, pp. 619‐34.

Goerzen, A. (2005), “Managing alliance networks: emerging practices of multinational corporations”, Academy of Management Executive, Vol. 19, pp. 94‐107.

Goerzen, A. and Beamish, P.W. (2005), “The effect of alliance network diversity on multinational enterprise performance”, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 26, pp. 333‐54.

Grabher, G. and Ibert, O. (2006), “Bad company? The ambiguity of personal knowledge networks”, Journal of Economic Geography, Vol. 6, pp. 251‐71.

Granovetter, M. (1973), “The strength of weak ties”, American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 78, pp. 1360‐80.

Grant, R. (1996), “Toward a knowledge‐based theory of the firm”, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 17, pp. 109‐22.

Grant, R. and Baden‐Fuller, C. (2004), “A knowledge‐accessing theory of strategic alliances”, Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 41, pp. 61‐84.

Gulati, R. (1999), “Network location and learning: the influence of network resources and firm capabilities on alliance formation”, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 20, pp. 397‐420.

Gulati, R. (2007), Managing Network Resources: Alliances, Affiliations, and other Relational Assets, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Gulati, R. and Gargiulo, M. (1999), “Where do interorganizational networks come from?”, American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 104, pp. 1439‐93.

Gulati, R., Nohria, N. and Zaheer, A. (2000), “Strategic networks”, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 21, pp. 203‐15.

Hagedoorn, J. (2006), “Understanding the cross‐level embeddedness of interfirm partnership formation”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 31, pp. 670‐80.

Hite, J. and Hesterly, W.S. (2001), “The evolution of firm network: from emergence to early growth of the firm”, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 22, pp. 275‐86.

Huggins, R. (2000), The Business of Networks: Inter‐Firm Interaction, Institutional Policy and the TEC Experiment, Ashgate, Aldershot.

Huggins, R. (2001), “Inter‐firm network policies and firm performance: evaluating the impact of initiatives in the United Kingdom”, Research Policy, Vol. 30, pp. 443‐58.

Huggins, R. (2009), “Forms of network resource: knowledge access and the role of inter‐firm networks”, International Journal of Management Reviews, Vol. 12 No. 3, pp. 335‐52.

Huggins, R. and Izushi, H. (2007), Competing for Knowledge: Creating, Connecting, and Growing, Routledge, London.

Huggins, R. and Johnston, A. (2009), “Knowledge networks in an uncompetitive region: SME innovation and growth”, Growth & Change, Vol. 40, pp. 227‐59.

Hung, S.C. (2002), “Mobilising networks to achieve strategic difference”, Long Range Planning, Vol. 35, pp. 591‐613.

Inkpen, A.C. and Tsang, E.W.K. (2005), “Social capital, networks, and knowledge transfer”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 30, pp. 146‐65.

Ireland, R.D., Hitt, M.A. and Vaidyanath, D. (2002), “Alliance management as a source of competitive advantage”, Journal of Management, Vol. 28, pp. 413‐46.

Jack, S.L. (2005), “The role, use and activation of strong and weak network ties: a qualitative analysis”, Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 42, pp. 1233‐59.

Johannisson, B. (1995), “Paradigms and entrepreneurial networks – some methodological challenges”, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, Vol. 7 No. 3, pp. 215‐32.

Johannisson, B. (1998), “Personal networks in emerging knowledge‐based firms: spatial and functional patterns”, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, Vol. 10 No. 4, pp. 297‐312.

Johannisson, B., Ramírez‐Pasillas, M. and Karlsson, G. (2002), “The institutional emeddedness of local inter‐firm networks: a leverage for business creation”, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, Vol. 14, pp. 297‐315.

Kogut, B. (2000), “The network as knowledge: generative rules and the emergence of structure”, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 21, pp. 405‐25.

Kostova, T. and Roth, K. (2003), “Social capital in multinational corporations and a micro‐macro model of its formation”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 28, pp. 297‐317.

Labianca, G. and Brass, D.J. (2006), “Exploring the social ledger: negative relationships and negative asymmetry in social networks in organizations”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 31, pp. 596‐614.

Lavie, D. (2006), “The competitive advantage of interconnected firms: an extension of the resource‐based view”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 31, pp. 638‐58.

Lechner, C. and Dowling, M. (2003), “Firm networks: external relationships as sources for the growth and competitiveness of entrepreneurial firms”, Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Vol. 15, pp. 1‐26.

Lechner, C., Dowling, M. and Welpe, I. (2006), “Firm networks and firm development: the role of the relational mix”, Journal of Business Venturing, Vol. 21, pp. 514‐40.

Levine, S.S. (2005), “The strength of performative ties: three essays on knowledge, social networks, and exchange”, unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

Lichtenthaler, U. (2005), “External commercialization of knowledge: review and research agenda”, International Journal of Management Reviews, Vol. 7, pp. 231‐55.

Lichtenthaler, U. and Ernst, H. (2007), “Developing reputation to overcome the imperfections in the markets for knowledge”, Research Policy, Vol. 36, pp. 37‐55.

Lin, N. (2001), “Building a network theory of social capital”, in Lin, N., Cook, K. and Burt, R.S. (Eds), Social Capital: Theory and Research, Aldine Transactions, New Brunswick, NJ, pp. 3‐29.

Locke, E.A. (1999), “Some reservations about social capital”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 24, pp. 8‐9.

Lorenzoni, G. and Lipparini, A. (1999), “The leverage of interfirm relationships as a distinctive organizational capability: a longitudinal study”, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 20, pp. 317‐38.

Lucas, R.E. (1988), “On the mechanics of economic development”, Journal of Monetary Economics, Vol. 22, pp. 3‐32.

McEvily, B. and Zaheer, A. (1999), “Bridging ties: a source of firm heterogeneity in competitive capabilities”, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 20, pp. 1133‐56.

McFadyen, M.A. and Cannella, A.A. (2004), “Social capital and knowledge creation: diminishing returns of the number and strength of exchange relationships”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 47, pp. 735‐46.

Madhaven, R., Koka, B. and Prescott, J.E. (1998), “Networks in transition: how industry events (re)shape interfirm relationships”, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 19, pp. 439‐59.

March, J.G. (1991), “Exploration and exploitation in organizational learning”, Organization Science, Vol. 2, pp. 71‐87.

Maskell, P. (2000), “Social capital, innovation and competitiveness”, in Baron, S., Field, J. and Schuller, T. (Eds), Social Capital: Critical Perspectives, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 111‐23.

Maurer, I. and Ebers, M. (2006), “Dynamics of social capital and their performance implications: lessons from biotechnology start‐ups”, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 51, pp. 262‐92.

Meagher, K. and Rogers, M. (2004), “Network density and R&D spillovers”, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Vol. 53, pp. 237‐60.

Monge, P.M. and Contractor, N.S. (2003), Theories of Communication Networks, Oxford University Press, New York, NY.

Mowery, D., Oxley, J. and Silverman, B. (1996), “Strategic alliances and interfirm knowledge transfer”, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 17, pp. 77‐91.

Nahapiet, J. and Ghoshal, S. (1998), “Social capital, intellectual capital, and the organizational advantage”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 23, pp. 242‐66.

Nonaka, I. and Takeuchi, H. (1995), The Knowledge‐Creating Company: How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation, Oxford University Press, New York, NY.

Oh, H.S., Chung, M.H. and Labianca, G. (2004), “Group social capital and group effectiveness: the role of informal socializing ties”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 47, pp. 860‐75.

Oliver, C. (1997), “Sustainable competitive advantage: combining institutional and resource‐based views”, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 18, pp. 697‐713.

Parise, S. and Casher, A. (2003), “Alliance portfolios: designing and managing your network of business‐partner relationships”, Academy of Management Executive, Vol. 17, pp. 25‐39.

Pittaway, L., Robertson, M., Munir, K., Denyer, D. and Neely, A. (2004), “Networking and innovation: a systematic review of the evidence”, International Journal of Management Reviews, Vol. 5‐6, pp. 137‐68.

Podolny, J.M. and Page, K.L. (1998), “Network forms of organization”, Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 24, pp. 57‐76.

Porter, M.E. (1998), On Competition, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA.

Portes, A. (1998), “Social capital: its origins and application in modern sociology”, Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 24, pp. 1‐24.

Putnam, R.D. (2000), Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, Simon & Schuster, New York, NY.

Romer, P.M. (1986), “Increasing returns and long‐run growth”, Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 94 No. 5, pp. 1002‐37.

Romer, P.M. (1990), “Endogenous technological change”, Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 98 No. 5, pp. S71‐102.

Salman, N. and Saives, A.‐L. (2005), “Indirect networks: an intangible resource for biotechnology innovation”, R&D Management, Vol. 35, pp. 203‐15.

Stuart, T.E. (1998), “Network positions and propensities to collaborate: an investigation of strategic alliance formation in a high technology industry”, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 43, pp. 668‐98.

Stuart, T.E. (2000), “Interorganizational alliances and the performance of firms: a study of growth and innovation rates in a high‐technology industry”, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 21, pp. 791‐811.

Stuart, T.E., Hoang, H. and Hybels, R.C. (1999), “Interorganizational endorsements and the performance of entrepreneurial ventures”, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 44, pp. 315‐49.

Teece, D.J. (1998), “Capturing value from knowledge assets: the new economy, markets for know‐how, and intangible assets”, California Management Review, Vol. 40, pp. 55‐79.

Thorpe, R., Holt, R., Macpherson, A. and Pittaway, L. (2005), “Using knowledge within small and medium‐sized firms: a systematic review of the evidence”, International Journal of Management Reviews, Vol. 7, pp. 257‐81.

Tsai, W.P. (2000), “Social capital, strategic relatedness and the formation of intraorganizational linkages”, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 21, pp. 925‐39.

Tsai, W.P. and Ghoshal, S. (1998), “Social capital and value creation: the role of intrafirm networks”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 41, pp. 464‐76.

Tura, T. and Harmaakorpi, V. (2005), “Social capital in building regional innovation capability”, Regional Studies, Vol. 39, pp. 1111‐25.

Walter, J., Lechner, C. and Kellermanns, F.W. (2007), “Knowledge transfer between and within alliance partners: private versus collective benefits of social capital”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 60, pp. 698‐710.

Weber, M. (1968), On Charisma and Institution Building, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL.

Westlund, H. and Bolton, R. (2003), “Local social capital and entrepreneurship”, Small Business Economics, Vol. 21, pp. 77‐113.

Westlund, H. and Nilsson, E. (2005), “Measuring enterprises' investments in social capital: a pilot study'”, Regional Studies, Vol. 39, pp. 1079‐94.

Williamson, O.E. (1991), “Comparative economic organization: the analysis of discrete structural alternative”, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 36, pp. 269‐96.

Williamson, O.E. (1993), “Calculativeness, trust, and economic organization”, Journal of Law and Economics, Vol. 36, pp. 453‐86.

Zaheer, A. and Bell, G. (2005), “Benefiting from network position: firm capabilities, structural holes, and performance”, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 26, pp. 809‐25.

Blackler, F. (1993), “Knowledge and the theory of organizations: organizations as activity systems and the reframing of management”, Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 30, pp. 863‐84.