Trust and knowledge sharing in context: A study of international buyer-supplier relationships in Thailand

How does trust facilitate knowledge sharing between business partners in an emerging market? We advance the relational view of knowledge sharing by theoretically developing and empirically testing moderators of the impact of trust on knowledge sharing between MNE subsidiaries and their local suppliers. Distinguishing inter-organizational and inter-personal trust, we argue that the positive relationship between inter-organizational trust and knowledge sharing is moderated by characteristics of the transaction, while the positive impact of inter-personal trust is moderated by the organizational context in which the relationship is embedded. We test our hypotheses on a sample of 156 buyer-supplier relationships between MNE subsidiaries and local suppliers in Thai manufacturing, and find empirical support for our theoretical arguments. We conclude with managerial implications on how to facilitate knowledge sharing in an emerging market.     

The use of favors by emerging market managers: Facilitator or inhibitor of international expansion?

This article explores the use of favors by emerging market managers, the impact of using favors on their firms’ growth, legitimacy, and reputation in a variety of business environments, and how the use of favors affects firms’ paths to international expansion. We discuss the concept of favors, and to illustrate the process of favors, we look at culturally rooted examples of their use by managers from the BRIC countries of Brazil, Russia, India, and China. Utilizing neo-institutional theory, we create a typology of four types of environments in which managers and firms from emerging markets conduct business with various relational entities (e.g., governments, customers, suppliers, competitors, alliance partners). We posit that the use of favors by managers compensates for the relatively weak legitimacy of formal institutions in emerging market environments, with favors illustrating the resulting reliance upon informal cultural-cognitive institutions. We develop propositions regarding the impact of the use of favors on the organizational outcomes of growth, legitimacy, and reputation of emerging market firms doing business in each of the four environments. This leads to further propositions regarding how the use of favors can influence their firms’ internationalization growth paths. We conclude that the impact of favors on international growth paths results from the fit or non-fit of their use with the level of legitimacy of the formal institutional environment of the focal relational entity in various business transactions.     

Relationship stability, trust and relational risk in marketing channels: Evidence from China

This paper provides an integrated framework for examining effects of relationship stability and trust on relational risk and for exploring the moderating effects of guanxi on the relationships between trust and relational risk in marketing channels. The framework is tested with 225 dyads of questionnaires about buyer-supplier relationships in the Chinese household appliances sector. The results indicate that relationship length and dyadic solidarity can reduce the relational risk perceived by buyers through goodwill trust in their suppliers, but can increase the perceived relational risk through trust in their competence. Guanxi helps to weaken the positive relationship between a buyer's trust in suppliers' competence and its perceived relational risk, and dyadic solidarity can directly lower relational risk. This paper makes clear that buyers locked in a stable relationship will face relational risk, and it further identifies the specific variables which impact on the relational risk and the paths from which relational risk comes.     

Development of Trust: A Study of Interfirm Relationships in Vietnam

The radical political and economic reforms sweeping through former socialist countries during the last decade have opened rich opportunities for privately owned businesses to emerge and develop. Since the market institutions and infrastructures in these countries are largely underdeveloped, private firms in transition economies rely extensively on interfirm partnerships. This raises the question of how—in the absence of institutions that legitimate markets, contracts, and private property—managers of new business ventures develop new relationships. This paper addresses this issue through analysis of multiple subcontracting relationships formed at a private garment company in Vietnam. This analysis suggests that firms in transition economies develop interfirm trust in ways that are quite different from their counterparts in more highly developed economies.     

Exploring the impact of a supplier portal on the buyer-supplier relationship. The case of Ferrari Auto

This article concentrates on the relationship between companies and their suppliers with a specific focus on the impact that information and communication technologies (ICTs) have on industrial (business to business) purchasing processes. After reviewing the extant literature, we classify the potential impact of ICTs on the buyer-supplier interactions into three main categories, i.e. impact on buyer-supplier relationship, impact on purchase process efficiency and impact on logistics process performance. Whilst scholars generally agree on the impact ICTs may have on buyer-supplier exchanges, they have not investigated concurrently all of these three impacts to understand their comparative relevance and the context in which this comparative relevance may change. In order to redress this gap in the literature our research study focuses on a particular form of ICT solution - supplier portals - and takes a supplier (rather than buyer) perspective. We explore empirical evidence from a single customer-multiple supplier case study, that of the Ferrari Auto supplier portal. Our study leads us to contend that suppliers view such portals as offering far more significant benefits to their relationship with customers than to the improvements in purchase process efficiency or to the performance of buyer-supplier logistics processes. We conclude with a short discussion of the main managerial implications and suggestions for future research.     

Distinguishing supplier reputation from trust in buyer-supplier relationships

We argue that a firm's reputation (i.e., central, enduring, and distinctive corporate associations held by individuals outside of an organization), although under-researched relative to trust, is more important than trust in impacting buyer-supplier relationships. Our conceptualization draws on theories and extant research related to transaction cost economics, information economics, and interfirm trust. The constructs of trust and reputation are distinguished and their relative impacts on relationship commitment and willingness to invest in the future of the relationship are examined. Suggestive empirical evidence is provided from a survey of industrial buyers, and implications and specific directions for future research are discussed.     

Getting bank financing: A study of Vietnamese private firms

Private firms in transition economies are operating in an extremely uncertain environment, with underdeveloped market institutions, poorly defined property rights, and absence of reliable business data. This raises a very basic question of how owners of these firms persuade bankers to make much needed loans. This study employs an institutional perspective and argues that firms' legitimacy positively influences their accessibility to bank financing. Specifically, this study develops a model that links networking, professional management practices, and growth stage with bank financing and tests that model using a sample of Vietnamese private firms. The results support the hypotheses that growth stage and networking greatly influence firms' accessibility to bank financing, and that the impact of networking on financing is contingent on the growth stage.     

Do regions matter? An integrated institutional and semiglobalization perspective on the internationalization of MNEs

Traditional research suggests a relationship between country‐level institutions and the location choices of MNEs. However, more recent theory suggests MNEs also focus on regions (semiglobalization). Therefore, this study examines institutional effects in the context of semiglobalization by considering the influences of three formal institutions (i.e., regulatory control, political democracy, capital investments) of countries and geographic regions on MNEs' location choices of internationalization. We use a sample of Japanese MNEs operating in 45 countries within eight regions. The results show that their degree of internationalization into a country is influenced by both country and regional institutional environments. Additionally, a semiglobalization perspective provides better explanatory power than does the country‐level perspective. These results present a new perspective on how MNEs consider institutional environments in their international strategy. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Persistence of informal social networks in East Asia: Evidence from South Korea

This study investigates the nature and influence of informal social networks in South Korea (yongo) by analyzing trust levels and network cohesion. Predominantly based on studies on Chinese guanxi, it is widely believed that the further a nation develops stable formal institutions the more the influence of informal relations decreases. Given South Korea’s position as a strong economic powerhouse with established rule of law and democratic institutions, the influence of yongo should play an insignificant role today. We find significant evidence that network cohesion of yongo is still strong in South Korea, despite its economic rise. Contrary to expectation, we observe a higher-than-expected degree of general trust and a continuous commitment to yongo ties at the same time. These findings document recent changes in South Korea such as the beginning of its multicultural opening, whereas informal yongo ties, characterized by emotional interpersonal bonds, still remain pronounced. Foremost, we recommend current beliefs about the correlation of institutional development and decreasing informal transactions to be reconsidered. We propose further studies to better understand how informal social networks evolve over time.     

Nature and evolution of trust in business-to-business settings: Insights from VC-entrepreneur relationships

While the importance of trust in B2B relationships has been well established, research is yet to investigate its processual nature. This study investigates the VC-Entrepreneur relationship – a special B2B relationship to outline the nature and evolution of trust across a venture's life cycle. Results suggest that early-stage relationships are characterized by asymmetric trust, which declines with time and impacts cooperation between both sides, access to funding and business networks, contract enforcement, feedback, mentorship, and knowledge sharing. Late-stage VC- Entrepreneur relationships suffer from symmetric distrust, which increases with time, resulting in an overt emphasis on contracts, syndicated investments, disagreements during decision making, and pressure to exit. This study extends B2B trust literature by offering a relationship-phase-contingent view of trust across a venture's life cycle, outlining specific contexts that question the reciprocal and symmetric assumption of trust in dyadic relationships. It highlights how the interplay among power, opportunism, and weak institutional environment dictate dyadic trust. And finally, the paper outlines three testable propositions on trust in VC- Entrepreneur relationships that can be extended to other emerging economies.     

Toward a social fitness perspective on contract design: Contract legitimacy and influence strategy

The effectiveness of contracts in terms of cooperative efficiency and relational outcomes in interorganizational relationships has become critical in today's volatile markets. However, extant research on the effect of contracts on trust has found inconsistent results, possibility because of its overwhelming focus on an economic fitness perspective at the expense of a social fitness perspective. Drawing insights from institutional theory, we focus on legitimacy building in interfirm contract design, investigate how contract legitimacies (i.e., regulative, normative, and cognitive) influence the effectiveness of interfirm contract design, and further explore the moderating effects of influence strategies that are applied in the process of contract implementation. Using longitudinal field survey data and archival data, this study finds that the three types of contract legitimacy play different roles in influencing compliance and trust and that noncoercive influence strategies can improve the effectiveness of regulative and normative legitimacy better than coercive influence strategies on trust. The findings offer new theoretical and managerial insights into the role of institutional environments in the effectiveness of contract design in manufacturer–distributor relationships.     

Buyer-supplier relational strength and buying firm's marketing capability: An outside-in perspective

Extant literature in marketing capability with an inside-out perspective stresses existing internal resources as the basis for developing marketing capability. This study, taking an outside-in perspective, argues that starting from external environment and developing strong buyer-supplier relationship can help formulate strong marketing capability of the buying firm. Using survey data from 199 Chinese manufacturing buyers who identified 937 suppliers, we found that strong buyer-supplier relationship can breed strong supplier information sharing and supplier flexibility, which fully mediate the effect of buyer-supplier relationship on buying firms' marketing capability. The findings provide support to the outside-in approach and reveal how external inter-firm relationship can be turned into intra-firm capability, and suggest that strong upstream buyer-supplier relationship can be a necessity for building downstream buyers' marketing capabilities. The findings also suggest an alternative strategy for developing marketing capabilities starting from external suppliers, and may help close the gap between marketing capability and dynamic external environment.     

Relational exchanges versus arm’s-length transactions during institutional transitions

How do firms make strategic choices in response to institutional transitions? The literature suggests that with more market-oriented institutional transitions, firms may move from relational exchanges to arm’s-length transactions. However, it remains unclear under what circumstances such strategic transitions would occur. We develop a model to predict that such transitions are contingent upon the multiple facets of a country’s institutional profile, including informal institutions such as national culture and formal institutions that encourage market competition. Our model also specifies industry- and firm-level contingencies affecting these strategic transitions.     

How does trust affect alliance performance? The mediating role of resource sharing

Although the direct impact of trust on alliance performance is well documented, little is known about how trust affects alliance performance. Based on the resource-based view, this study develops a model that employs resource sharing as a critical mediating mechanism through which trust affects alliance performance. Using survey data from 205 Chinese firms that were engaged in alliances, we find broad support for the mediated effects of trust. Interestingly, we also find that goodwill trust matters more to tangible than to intangible resource sharing, whereas competence trust matters more to intangible than to tangible resource sharing. Overall, our research provides important implications for firms seeking to translate their trust into superior alliance performance.     

The impact of current and founding institutions on strength of competitive aspirations in transition economies

Northian institutional theory argues that firms adapt to their current institutional environments. Organizational imprinting theory argues that firms will be constrained by their founding institutional environments. We explore the combined influence of these two institutional environments on the strength of competitive aspirations using a unique dataset of firms in the shifted institutional environment of Central European transition economies. Our results indicate founding institutional environments temper adaptation to current institutional environments for certain competitive aspirations and this effect increases as the size of the shift between current and founding institutional environments increases. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Home-country government support,the belt and road initiative,and the foreign performance of Chinese state-owned subsidiaries

State-owned (SO) multinational enterprises (MNEs) from emerging economies face two contradictory effects on their foreign operations due to their linkage with their home-country governments. Although home governments provide SO MNEs with resources, the affiliation also exposes SO MNEs to the legitimacy challenges in the host countries. Given this theoretical debate, we propose that home government support may facilitate SO MNEs’ post-entry operations in the host markets. Furthermore, because the legitimacy pressures directed at SO MNEs may be contingent on the interstate relations between the host and home governments facilitated by China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the BRI cooperative relations may shift the effect of home government support. Using survey and archival data, we find that home government support has a positive impact on the foreign performance of SO subsidiaries. This effect is weaker in countries that are cooperating with the BRI than in those that are not. Moreover, institutional distance weakens the negative interactive effect between BRI cooperation and home government support on the performance of SO MNEs’ foreign subsidiaries. These findings extend the institutional perspective by highlighting an alternative source of legitimacy for MNEs with distinctive attributes and in various host conditions.

     

“The more,the merrier” or “less is more”? How the number of issues addressed in B2B sales negotiations affects dyadic and seller economic outcomes

With a mixed-methods approach, this study analyzes how varying the number of issues in business-to-business (B2B) sales negotiations affects negotiation processes and outcomes. A qualitative interview study with B2B negotiators (N = 46) reveals that more issues increase complexity but offer more possibilities for concessions. Sellers see benefits in increasing the number of issues addressed, whereas buyers are ambiguous about whether negotiating more issues will benefit their economic outcomes. A second experimental study (N = 97 dyads) tests whether negotiating a different number of issues (four, eight, or between four and eight) produces different absolute and relative dyadic economic outcomes and sellers' shares of the joint profits in one-on-one negotiations. In absolute terms, more negotiation issues produce larger negotiation pies; fewer issues facilitate more accurate information processing, leading to relatively more integrative agreements. For sellers, increasing the number of issues increases their share of the joint profit, because buyers are more willing to concede on the overall price of the deal.     

Market design in Chinese market places

The market design (MD) approach to institutional analysis provides the analytical tools to evaluate endogenous institution building in local market places irrespective of the institutional setting of the national economy. Implicit in this analysis of endogenous institution building at the market place level is the recognition of institutional diversity, which none of the conventional forms of institutional analysis can provide. We extend the MD approach from its original game theory perspective to examine three market places in China: township and village enterprises, equity joint ventures, and public utilities. We conclude that the MD approach (1) provides the analytical tools and criteria to evaluate whether or not market places are robust and sustainable, (2) links market behavior at the market place level, which is characterized by size, coordination, and trust problems, with general level considerations based on transaction costs, and (3) suggests that functioning market places are achievable, even if the formal institutions of the general economy are weak or partially missing. Our research has policy implications and opens new avenues for research into the emergence of markets.     

Do formal contracts and relational governance function as substitutes or complements?

Relational exchange arrangements supported by trust are commonly viewed as substitutes for complex contracts in interorganizational exchanges. Many argue that formal contracts actually undermine trust and thereby encourage the opportunistic behavior they are designed to discourage. In this paper, we develop and test an alternative perspective: that formal contracts and relational governance function as complements. Using data from a sample of information service exchanges, we find empirical support for this proposition of complementarity. Managers appear to couple their increasingly customized contracts with high levels of relational governance (and vice versa). Moreover, this interdependence underlies their ability to generate improvements in exchange performance. Our results concerning the determinants of these governance choices show their distinct origins, which further augments their complementarity in practice. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Guanxi practice and Chinese buyer-supplier relationships: The buyer's perspective

This study explores the different effects of guanxi practice on Chinese buyer-supplier relationships in the initiation and the maintenance stages during the buyer-supplier relationship lifecycle. Using survey data collected from the retail industry in China, we find that retailers perceive varying buyer-supplier relationship behaviors in these two relationship stages and, accordingly, guanxi practice exerts opposite effects on retailer satisfaction. Specifically, during the relationship initiation stage, guanxi practice is negatively related to retailer social satisfaction and commitment. However, during the relationship maintenance stage, guanxi practice is positively related to retailer economic satisfaction. The results from this study provide suppliers with managerial implications on when to and when not to practice guanxi in China.