It's Who You Know and What You Do: How SMEs from Emerging Economies Capitalize on Founder Ties to Create Bargaining Power with Foreign Multinational Alliance Partners

Abstract

We examine the relative bargaining power in alliances between small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from emerging economies and multinationals from developed markets. Our work highlights the importance of founders’ personal ties, network positions, and the processes their firms use to manage resources. Specifically, we evaluate how SME founders’ ties with local government officials and business managers may serve as the conduit for value creation and SMEs’ bargaining power over foreign multinational partners. Further, this work explores the importance of resource management processes (bundling and synchronization) to enhance the value of personal ties. In doing so, we offer theory to demonstrate that SMEs’ bargaining power in strategic alliances is a function of the social relationships and resource management processes that underlie and shape the firms’ competitiveness and capabilities in emerging economies.

Keywords: emerging economies, alliances, bargaining power, founder ties