Complementarity,status similarity and social capital as drivers of alliance formation

Using data on U.S. investment banking firms’ syndication in underwriting corporate stock offerings during the 1980s, this study explores the factors that drive alliance formation between two specific firms. We compare resource complementarity, status similarity, and social capital as a basis of alliance formation. The findings indicate that the likelihood of investment banks’ alliance formation is positively related to the complementarity of their capabilities, as well as their status similarity. Social capital arising from banks’ direct and indirect collaborative experiences also plays a very important role in alliance formation. The number of deals given by a lead bank to a potential partner over the past three years has an inverted U‐shaped relationship to the probability that the lead bank will invite the potential partner to form an alliance. Our findings indicate that status similarity and social capital have a stronger effect on alliance formation in initial public offering deals than in secondary offering deals, as the former are more uncertain than the latter. Using these findings, we discuss the role of complementarity, status similarity, and social capital in alliance formation. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effect of board capital and CEO power on strategic change

We develop the construct of board capital, composed of the breadth and depth of directors' human and social capital, and explore how board capital affects strategic change. Building upon resource dependence theory, we submit that board capital breadth leads to more strategic change, while board capital depth leads to less. We also recognize CEO power as a moderator of these relationships. Our hypotheses are tested using a random sample of firms on the S&P 500. We find support for the effect of board capital on strategic change, and partial support for the moderating effect of CEO power. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Managerial social capital,strategic orientation,and organizational performance in an emerging economy

This study replicates and extends previous research focusing on China, to a sub‐Saharan African emerging economy environment. Specifically, the study directly replicates the impact of social capital derived from the micro‐managerial networking relationships and ties with top managers at other firms and government officials on macro‐organizational performance using data from Ghana. This study further extends previous work by examining the impact of social capital derived from managerial social networking relationships and ties with community leaders on organizational performance. It examines how the relationship between social capital and organizational performance is contingent on an organization's competitive strategic orientation. The findings suggest that social capital developed from managerial networking and social relationships with top managers at other firms, government officials (political leaders and bureaucratic officials), and community leadership enhance organizational performance. The findings from the contingency analyses reveal some interesting trends. The impact of social capital on organizational performance differs between firms that pursue the different competitive strategies (low‐cost, differentiation, and combination of low‐cost and differentiation) and those who do not pursue those strategies. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

农村小额信贷过程中社会网络运行机制研究

回顾了农村小额信贷中社会资本运行机制的相关研究成果,指出社会资本对于小额信贷的作用不仅仅限于静态,而且更是一个动态的过程。尤其是构成社会资本的社会网络,更是一个借贷主体双方主动构建并促成借贷双方达成交易的一个动态过程,借贷双方都能够能动地改变着网络结构,使其有利于满足自身的利益需求。     

社会资本结构与民营企业成长

本文以个人关系资本与集群网络资本构成的社会资本结构为理论工具，通过两者的禀赋差异与组合，将我国经济转轨时期民营经济成长的环境分为四种类型。在实证地比较这四种环境下民营经济发展绩效的基础上，本文提出了集群网络资本有助于缺乏个人关系资本的中小企业发展的观点，并指出了伴随我国市场制度的逐步完善，个人关系资本弱化与集群网络资本强化的趋势。     

从社会科学的观点看电力企业发展——一个基于社会资本的视角

电力供给与需求的背后是社会结构等因素,经济学需要研究以利益关系和利益矛盾为核心的社会生产关系。社会关系是电力企业发展的深层根基和逻辑起点,电力企业生存和发展有赖于其获得、重构和保持社会资源的能力。社会资本理论将企业理论和我们对于隐含在市场分配过程背后的社会机制的理解联系起来,为电力企业发展开辟了一个独特的分析视角。     

Social and organizational capital: Building the context for innovation

In the light of the key role intellectual capital has for firms' innovation capability, this paper analyzes the influence of two of their dimensions, organizational capital and social capital, on firms' product innovation, and the moderating role of radicalness. Unlike previous studies, the unit of analysis will not be the firm, but the R&D department. Thus, our research, conducted with a sample of Spanish industrial companies, provides a new insight with interesting results. First, our findings show that social capital favours firms' product innovation, especially under radical innovations. Second, organizational capital has an indirect effect on product innovation through positive influence on social capital. This implies that firms can stimulate communication and interaction among people, and therefore innovative activity, by means of explicit and codified knowledge (organizational capital).     

Dynamic capabilities,social capital,and rent appropriation: ties that split pies

Who reaps the fruits of a dynamic capability? We argue that while social capital is essential for the acquisition, integration, and release of resources at the core of a dynamic capability, actors can also use social capital for personal gain. Thus, social capital may be a key to understanding both rent generation and rent appropriation. Even when causal ambiguity obscures individual contributions, they may use their social capital to establish credible claims on the rent. Specifically, employees who occupy structural holes, span organizational boundaries, or who are highly central may be most able to appropriate rent because their social capital grants credibility to their claims. Rent that is appropriated in this way may be unobservable in performance measures that fail to distinguish normal compensation from rent. We contribute by identifying the specific role of social capital in a dynamic capability and linking social capital to rent appropriation patterns. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Social capital in the growth of science-and-technology-based SMEs

There is increasing evidence of the positive role social capital plays in accessing resources and capabilities from and with other actors, and in establishing and maintaining business relationships. Yet, surprisingly little is known about how an organization's social capital and its utilization evolve over time. Focusing on this gap, this paper explores the role of social capital and its structural, relational and cognitive dimensions in the growth of science-and-technology-based SMEs. On the basis of our studies on social capital, entrepreneurial networks and SME growth, we develop a conceptual framework to describe their development through four overlapping phases, each of which involves different managerial tasks: innovation assessment, offering development, commercialization and rapid growth. The results of our longitudinal multiple case studies show that; (i) different types of networks and relationships are important in the transitional periods between the growth phases; and (ii) the role of social capital and its different dimensions varies in developing, maintaining and utilizing these partnerships and network relationships. These findings offer several managerial implications.     

高参与工作系统中的社会关系网络及其变革障碍

实证研究表明，高参与工作系统对企业绩效具有积极的影响。但是高参与工作系统对企业绩效的作用机制如何．这一问题并没有得到回答。基于社会资本理论，本论文提出了一个高参与工作系统、社会关系网络和企业绩效的作用机制模式。在此基础上，论文提出从高控制型向参与型工作系统的变革不仅仅简单是人力资源政策的调整，更是员工与员工之间社会关系网络的彻底变革。正因为社会关系网络的变革成本巨大，才导致大部分企业从高控制型向高参与型工作系统变革的失败。     

The direct and indirect effects of core and peripheral social capital on organizational performance

Research summary : In this paper we adopt a core‐periphery approach to specify the direct and indirect effects of social capital on organizational performance. We suggest that social capital deriving from stable task relationships between organizational members has a direct positive effect on organizational performance. Said effect depends, in both strength and functional form, on whether actors involved in stable dyads are located at the core or at the periphery of the organization. We also argue that core and peripheral social capital affect performance indirectly by moderating the organization's ability to leverage its human capital to improve performance. Results from a 48‐year study of the National Basketball Association support our arguments and bear important implications for strategic human resource practices and organizational performance in competitive settings. Managerial summary : Stable work relationships among employees generate trust, more efficient work routines, common understanding and thus higher organizational performance. These benefits depend on the location of such stable relationships in the organization. Relational stability among core organizational members has an immediate, strong impact on performance, an effect that plateaus as stability grows. Stable relationships between core and peripheral members have instead a weaker, yet linear effect on performance. The location of stable relationships is also critical to leverage the talent of core employees, whose contribution to performance is stronger when relational stability is high in the organizational core, yet hindered by stable relations between core and periphery. Such findings provide relevant implications for strategic human resource management, in particular for choices regarding team composition and managing stars. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Bridging and bonding forms of social capital in a regional strategic network

Research on networks emphasizes the importance of bonds between actors. Social reciprocity strengthens network bonds, which is assumed to have positive effects on business relationships between firms. However, the importance of weak ties is also stressed in network research. An important policy issue is therefore if more attention should be devoted to the creation of bridges to other social groups and loosening bonds between network actors. The difficulty in doing so is described and analyzed in this article focusing on a regional strategic network, which is viewed in three network perspectives. Interview data were collected from all participating managers in a regional strategic network in 2004 and 2010. The findings shed light upon the paradox of using a regional strategic network to counteract over-embeddedness and freeing the involved actors from existing network lock-ins instead of further strengthening such social institutions.     

Performance impact of middle managers' adaptive strategy implementation: The role of social capital

This article reconciles mixed findings about the performance impact of middle managers' strategy involvement. We propose that the relationship between middle managers' adaptive strategy implementation—through upward and downward influence—and objective business performance can be curvilinear and contingent on formal and informal structures. Applying a multilevel perspective to social networks, we empirically show that reputational social capital enhances the performance impact of middle managers' upward influence while informational social capital elevates the performance impact of their downward influence. The size of a business unit or region has differential moderating effects. The curvilinear effects of middle managers' upward influence and reputational and informational social capital on business unit performance reflect paradoxes. We discuss the implications of these findings for strategy implementation research and practice. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

社会资本与企业债务融资

本文从社会组织数量、社会参与及社会信用三个维度对中国各地区的社会资本发展状况进行度量,而后探索性地研究了社会资本对企业负债融资结构的作用。我们的研究发现:在社会资本发展较好的地区,企业更容易获得负债、长期负债,而且企业可以使用较少的抵押物获得债务融资。本文的贡献在于:一方面从微观层面验证了社会资本作为一种非正式社会制度的经济价值,另一方面也对理解企业的资本结构选择提供了一种新视角。     

企业社会资本与持续竞争优势

企业知识理论从知识的创造活动和能力上解释了企业竞争优势的来源,本文进一步讨论了知识创造的社会化过程。我们认为社会资本为企业知识活动提供了便利,它从结构因素、关系因素和认知因素三个维度影响知识创造过程;按照智力资本与社会资本共同演进的逻辑,我们提出企业要在竞争过程持续性拥有竞争优势的地位,必须以企业知识创造为导向,对企业社会资本进行战略性的管理。     

幸福感、社会资本与代理成本

幸福感是社会学和经济学领域关注的热点问题,但较少研究幸福感对公司治理行为影响的经济后果。本文运用中国A股上市公司的经验数据,在对幸福感与代理成本的关系进行理论分析的基础上,首次检验了幸福感与代理成本之间的关系。研究发现:地区幸福感能够显著降低地方政府控制上市公司的代理成本,与之相反,地区幸福感加剧了民营控制上市公司的代理成本,并从幸福感的社会资本视角对地区幸福感与代理成本的关系进行了解读。本研究在一定程度上增进了企业代理成本问题的研究积累,研究结论对国民福利的公共政策和企业员工福利计划的制定具有一定的启示意义。     

Structural vs. relational embeddedness: social capital and managerial performance

This paper examines the impact of managers' social capital on managerial performance. Two dimensions of social capital are compared—the structural embeddedness (i.e., configuration) of a manager's network of work relations and the relational embeddedness (i.e., quality) of those relations. Based on a sample of 120 product and sales managers in a Fortune 100 pharmaceutical firm, this paper presents evidence indicating that both elements of social capital influence managerial performance, although in distinct ways: structural embeddedness plays a stronger role in explaining more routine, execution‐oriented tasks (managerial sales performance), whereas relational embeddedness plays a stronger role in explaining new, innovation‐oriented tasks (managerial performance in product and process innovation). This research considers resource exchanges within firms as key to value creating behaviors and contributes a deeper understanding of how social capital influences productive resource exchanges. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

企业社会责任、社会资本与组织竞争优势:一个战略互动视角——基于中国转型期经验的实证研究

本文融合社会资本理论,构建了转型经济中企业社会责任影响组织竞争优势的理论框架,并运用151家中国企业的调查数据进行了实证检验。结果发现:企业社会责任与经济绩效之间不存在相关性,但与组织声誉正向相关,社会资本会明显强化企业社会责任的声誉效应。具体而言,等级制社会资本会显著促进企业社会责任与组织声誉的相关关系,而市场社会资本则限制了企业社会责任对组织声誉的贡献。本文从研究方法的跨层次风险、资源依赖的动态性和整合能力等方面进行了应用性的讨论,建议中国企业用基于社会资本的战略性社会责任超越慈善导向的社会责任,通过这种战略转型积聚组织竞争优势。     

Learning to let go: Social influence,learning, and the abandonment of corporate venture capital practices

Research summary: This study examines the abandonment of organizational practices. We argue that firm choices in implementing practices affect how firms experience a practice and their subsequent likelihood of abandonment. We focus on utilization of the practice and staffing (i.e. career backgrounds of managers), as two important implementation choices that firms make. The findings demonstrate that practice utilization and staffing choices not only affect abandonment likelihood directly but also condition firms' susceptibility to pressures to abandon when social referents do. Our study contributes to diffusion research by examining practice abandonment—a relatively unexplored area in diffusion research—and by incorporating specific aspects of firms' post‐adoption choices into diffusion theory. Managerial summary: When do firms shut down practices? Prior research has shown that firms learn from the actions of other firms, both adopting and abandoning practices when their peers do. But unlike adoption decisions, abandonment decisions need to account for firms' own experiences with the practice. We study the abandonment of corporate venture capital (CVC) practices in the U.S. IT industry, which has experienced waves of adoption and abandonment. We find that firms that make more CVC investments are less likely to abandon the practice, and are less likely to learn vicariously from other firms' abandonment decisions, such that they are less likely to exit CVC when other firms do. Staffing choices also matter: hiring former venture capitalists makes firms less likely to abandon CVC practices, while hiring internally makes abandonment more likely. Plus, staffing choices affect how firms learn from the environment, as CVC managers pay attention to and learn more from the actions of firms that match their work backgrounds; i.e., firms that staff CVC units with former venture capitalists are more likely to follow exit decisions of VC firms, while those that staff with internal hires are more likely to follow their industry peers. Our results suggest that firms wanting to retain CVC practices should think carefully about the implementation choices they make, as they may be inadvertently sowing seeds of abandonment. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The formation and evolution of non-equity strategic alliances in China

Contractual joint ventures (CJVs) are a major form of non-equity strategic alliance in China, employed mainly by Hong Kong firms in the south China province of Guangdong. Due to their ambiguous legal status and the lack of conceptualisation and of their contractual nature, there has been little empirical research on CJVs. By theorising CJVs as a relational subcontracting arrangement and drawing on data from structured interviews with managers from both sides, this paper reveals the managerial decisions pertaining to the formation and evolution of the CJV non-equity alliances in Guangdong.