The Competitive Advantage of Interconnected Firms: An Extension of the Resource-Based View

I extend the resource-based view to incorporate the network resources of interconnected firms. My model distinguishes shared resources from nonshared resources; identifies new types of rent; and illustrates how firm-, relation-, and partner-specific factors determine the contribution of network resources to the rents extracted from alliance networks. After reassessing the heterogeneity, imperfect mobility, imitability, and substitutability conditions, I conclude that the nature of relationships may matter more than the nature of resources in networked environments.

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