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

TLDR

Firms join alliances to acquire partner know‑how while simultaneously guarding their own proprietary assets, yet these goals are often viewed as mutually exclusive. Relational capital built on mutual trust and frequent individual interactions enables knowledge transfer while restraining partner opportunism. Empirical evidence shows that firms can simultaneously learn from partners and protect their core assets when they build relational capital alongside integrative conflict management. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Abstract

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 © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.