Learning and protection of proprietary assets in strategic alliances: Building relational capital

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Kale, P; Singh, H; Perlmutter, H
• 署名单位: University of Michigan System; University of Michigan; University of Pennsylvania
• 刊物名称: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0143-2095
• DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1097-0266(200003)21:3<217::AID-SMJ95>3.0.CO;2-Y
• 发表日期: 2000
• 页码: 217-237
• 关键词: strategic alliances; relational capital; learning; proprietary assets

摘要

One of the main reasons that firms participate in alliances is to learn know-how and capabilities from their alliance partners. At the same time firms want to protect themselves from the opportunistic behavior of their partner to retain their own core proprietary assets. Most research has generally viewed the achievement of these objectives as mutually exclusive. In contrast, we provide empirical evidence using large-sample survey data to show that when firms build relational capital in conjunction with an integrative approach to managing conflict, they are able to achieve both objectives simultaneously. Relational capital based on mutual trust and interaction at the individual level between alliance partners creates a basis for learning and know-how transfer across the exchange interface. At the same time, it curbs opportunistic behavior of alliance partners, thus preventing the leakage of critical know-how between them. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.