Resource Transformation Through Alliances: The Resource-Based and Relational Rents Dilemma and Implications for the Evolution of Firm Boundaries

27 Pages Posted: 17 Feb 2015

See all articles by Anoop Madhok

Anoop Madhok

York University - Schulich School of Business

Mohammad Keyhani

University of Calgary - Haskayne School of Business

Bart A.G. Bossink

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, School of Business and Economics

Paul W.L. Vlaar

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Department of Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship

Date Written: January 30, 2015

Abstract

There is an ongoing debate on how firms can simultaneously generate resource-based and relational rents, i.e., how they can benefit from increasingly specialized knowledge and resources on the one hand, while also fulfilling relation-specific demands for adaptation that allow them to benefit more fully from their partnerships. We contend that firms with the capability to more effectively and efficiently (a) adapt their own resources to relational requirements, and (b) adapt their relationship’s resources to their own advantage face less of a tradeoff between resource-based and relational rents. Since different firms in a collaboration may preside over different levels of these adjustment and re-adjustment capabilities, they will have asymmetric incentives to invest in the collaboration, which impacts collaboration outcomes. Our argument explores underlying dynamics between the resource based and relational view in this regard as an important potential driver of boundary evolution. We apply our argument to two well-known joint ventures between Apple and IBM to illustrate and elucidate the key points.

Keywords: Resource based view, relational view, interfirm collaboration, joint ventures, alliance evolution, firm boundaries

JEL Classification: D20, D21, D29

Suggested Citation

Madhok, Anoop and Keyhani, Mohammad and Bossink, Bart A.G. and Vlaar, Paul W.L., Resource Transformation Through Alliances: The Resource-Based and Relational Rents Dilemma and Implications for the Evolution of Firm Boundaries (January 30, 2015). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2565383 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2565383

Anoop Madhok (Contact Author)

York University - Schulich School of Business ( email )

470 Keele Street
Toronto, ON M3J 1P3
Canada
416-736-2100 x20578 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://research.schulich.yorku.ca/faculty-profile-details.jsp?id=87&tab=0

Mohammad Keyhani

University of Calgary - Haskayne School of Business ( email )

2500 University Drive, NW
Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4
Canada

Bart A.G. Bossink

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, School of Business and Economics ( email )

De Boelelaan 1105
Amsterdam, 1081HV
Netherlands

Paul W.L. Vlaar

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Department of Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship ( email )

RSM Erasmus University
Rotterdam, 3000 DR
Netherlands
+31 10 408 9613 (Phone)
+31 10 408 9013 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.strategyaterasmus.net

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