Harbir Singh | University of Pennsylvania (original) (raw)

Papers by Harbir Singh

According to Essential Science Indicators from Thomson Reuters, the paper, "The relational v... more According to Essential Science Indicators from Thomson Reuters, the paper, "The relational view: Cooperative strategy and sources of interorganizational competitive advantage," (Dyer JH and Singh H, Academy of Management Review 23[4]: 660-79, October 1998) is currently ranked at #2 among Economics & Business papers published between January 1, 1998 and April 30, 2008. At present, the paper has 561 cites.

Academy of Management Proceedings, 1999

Firms can enjoy competitive advantage by developing a capability to manage alliances more success... more Firms can enjoy competitive advantage by developing a capability to manage alliances more successfully than others. A knowledge-based approach suggests that organizational processes facilitating the accumulation, codification and sharing of alliance know-how embedded in the firm's alliance experience, are central to its alliance capability and success.

Academy of Management Proceedings, 2015

We examine the implications for firm performance of managers having only a partial understanding ... more We examine the implications for firm performance of managers having only a partial understanding of the true nature of their inter-firm interdependence. While operating with such ex-ante uncertainty regarding inter-firm interdependency is common when selecting an approach to governing an alliance relationship, the literature offers limited guidance as to the performance implications of such "misspecifications. " We employ an agentbased simulation to model inter-firm decision making in a context where firms have either under-or overspecified views of their inter-firm interdependencies. Consistent with intuition, firm performance declines with interdependence misspecifications. We find, however, interesting variation in this effect across alternate governance modes and across levels of actual interdependency. We also find that interdependence misspecifications have differing effects on exploration and coordination, leading to tradeoffs between performance and other alliance objectives.

This paper examines how alliance experience accumulation at the parent firm level and alliance fe... more This paper examines how alliance experience accumulation at the parent firm level and alliance features at the transaction level jointly and interactively shape the termination outcomes of high-tech collaborative agreements. We draw upon the knowledge-based view of the firm and work on governance design to differentiate alliance termination outcomes, investigate where favorable terminations occur, and evaluate factors from multiple levels of analysis affecting alliance dynamics. The evidence suggests that partner-specific experience is beneficial for non-equity alliances affording less control than equity structures as this experience facilitates the development of inter-partner routines. Broad-based collaborative experience and alliance experience in a technological domain do not affect how alliances end, however. The findings also indicate that alliance complexity and how parent firms assign responsibilities among themselves influence alliance termination outcomes.

Academy of Management Perspectives, 2009

Strategic Management Journal, 2000

One of the main reasons that firms participate in alliances is to learn know-how and capabilities... more 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.

Strategic Management Journal, 2007

In recent years, academics and managers have been very interested in understanding how firms deve... more In recent years, academics and managers have been very interested in understanding how firms develop alliance capability and have greater alliance success. In this paper, we show that an alliance learning process that involves articulation, codification, sharing, and internalization of alliance management know-how is positively related to a firm's overall alliance success. Prior research has found that firms with a dedicated alliance function, which oversees and coordinates a firm's overall alliance activity, have greater alliance success. In this paper we suggest that such an alliance function is also positively related to a firm's alliance learning process, and that process partly mediates the relationship between the alliance function and alliance success observed in prior work. This implies that the alliance learning process acts as one of the main mechanisms through which the alliance function leads to greater alliance success. Our paper extends prior alliance research by taking a first step in opening up the 'black box' between the alliance function and a firm's alliance success. We use survey data from a large sample of U.S.-based firms and their alliances to test our theoretical arguments. Although we only examine the alliance learning process and its relationship with firm-level alliance success, we also make an important contribution to research on the knowledge-based view of the firm and dynamic capabilities of firms in general by conceptualizing this learning process and its key aspects, and by empirically validating its impact on performance.

Strategic Management Journal, 2010

We examine the performance implications of selecting alternate modes of governance in interorgani... more We examine the performance implications of selecting alternate modes of governance in interorganizational alliance relationships. While managers can choose from a range of modes to govern alliances, prior empirical evidence offers limited guidance on the performance impact of this choice. We use an agent-based simulation of inter-firm decision making to complement empirical studies in this area. Our results point to a complex interplay between interdependencies, governance structures and firms' search capabilities: different patterns of interdependence create varying needs with respect to coordination and exploration, while at the same time different governance modes, coupled with organizational search capabilities, supply varying degrees of these factors; firm performance in an alliance relationship improves when the needs and supplies of coordination and exploration are matched. We find situations in which stronger organizational search capabilities can backfire, leading to lower exploration within the alliance relationship, and hence to lower firm performance. Moreover we show that for higher levels of interdependence, coordination can become more critical for firm performance than exploration: unless it is tied to coordination, exploration can be ineffective in alliance settings.

Strategic Management Journal, 2002

This paper addresses two key questions: (1) what factors influence firms' ability to build allian... more This paper addresses two key questions: (1) what factors influence firms' ability to build alliance capability and enjoy greater alliance success, where firm-level alliance success is measured in two ways: (a) abnormal stock market gains following alliance announcements and (b) managerial assessments of long term alliance performance; and (2) are the two alternate ways of assessing alliance success correlated? We find that firms with greater alliance experience and, more importantly, those that create a dedicated alliance function (with the intent of strategically coordinating alliance activity and capturing/disseminating alliance-related knowledge) realize greater success with alliances. More specifically, firms with a dedicated alliance function achieve greater abnormal stock market gains (average of 1.35%) and report that 63 percent of alliances are successful whereas firms without an alliance function achieve much lower stock market gains (average of 0.18%) and only a 50 percent long-term success rate. We also find a positive correlation between stock market-based measures of alliance success and alliance success measured through managerial assessments. In addition to providing insights into the development of alliance capability among firms, this paper is one of the first to provide empirical support for the efficient markets argument by demonstrating that the initial stock market response to a key event positively correlates to the long-term performance and value of the event. Copyright  2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Organization Science, 2009

Acquirers who buy small technology-based firms for their technological capabilities often discove... more Acquirers who buy small technology-based firms for their technological capabilities often discover that postmerger integration can destroy the very innovative capabilities that made the acquired organization attractive in the first place. Viewing structural integration as a mechanism to achieve coordination between acquirer and target organizations helps explain why structural integration may be necessary in technology acquisitions despite the costs of disruption this imposes, as well as the conditions under which it becomes less (or un-) necessary. We show that interdependence motivates structural integration but that preexisting common ground offers acquirers an alternate path to achieving coordination, which may be less disruptive than structural integration.

Managerial and Decision Economics, 2008

This paper addresses the issue of how relational rents, generated through alliances, are distribu... more This paper addresses the issue of how relational rents, generated through alliances, are distributed to the participating firms. We argue that rent distribution is influenced by factors affecting both jointly generated common benefits and private benefits gained from the alliance relationship. We draw on four perspectives to explain these various effects. The first three, namely the resource dependence perspective, related resources perspective, and structural holes perspective, essentially highlight the private 'exploitation' opportunities that a firm's alliance network presents the focal firm. In contrast, the resource development perspective underscores the private 'exploration' benefits a firm potentially derives from its alliance network.

Management Science, 2011

The resource-based view argues that acquisitions can build competitive advantage partially throug... more The resource-based view argues that acquisitions can build competitive advantage partially through retention of valuable human capital of the target firm. However, making commitments to retain and motivate successful top managers is a challenge when contracts are not enforceable. Investigating the conditions under which target chief executive officers (CEOs) are retained in a sample of mergers in the 1990s, we find greater retention of better-performing and higher-paid CEOs—both measures of valuable human capital. We also show that the performance-retention link is stronger when the acquirer's governance provisions support managers and when the acquirer's CEO owns more equity. Although it is not common for acquirers to retain target CEOs, we argue that they are more likely to do so when their governance environment maintains managerial discretion. Based on a joint analysis of retention and governance, our findings are largely consistent with a managerial human capital explan...

Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, 2004

In order to analyze target CEO incentives to negotiate shared control, I study abnormal returns i... more In order to analyze target CEO incentives to negotiate shared control, I study abnormal returns in a sample of "mergers of equals" transactions in which the two firms are approximately equal in post-merger board representation. Mergers of equals (MOEs) are friendly mergers generally characterized by extensive pre-merger negotiations between firms with more comparable bargaining positions resulting in both lower premiums and greater shared control (board and management) between target and acquiring firms. On average, acquirer shareholders capture more of the gains in MOEs measured by event returns, while target shareholders capture less, in comparison to a matched sample of transactions with unequal board representation (i.e. "mergers of non-equals" or MONEs). However, the value created by MOEs measured by combined event returns is not significantly different than the matched sample. Moreover, both the value created and target shareholders' capture of the gains are systematically related to variables representing postmerger control rights. The evidence suggests that target CEOs negotiate shared control in the merged firm in exchange for lower target shareholder premiums.

IIMB Management Review, 2011

European Management Journal, 2003

Technology-grafting acquisitions are the acquisitions of technology-based entrepreneurial firms b... more Technology-grafting acquisitions are the acquisitions of technology-based entrepreneurial firms by established firms. They are often motivated by the need to bring products speedily to market, as well as develop future product pipelines. We argue that these are conflicting objectives; a trade-off between short and long-term performance arises because acquisition integration has opposite effects on the strength of the organizational linkages between target and acquirer, and on the continued innovative capacity of the target firm.

I also thank participants at the University of Michigan Strategy and Business Economics departmen... more I also thank participants at the University of Michigan Strategy and Business Economics departmental seminars, the 14th Annual Consortium on Competitiveness and Cooperation (CCC) and the 2007 Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management for their helpful comments. All errors remain mine.

Academy of Management Review, 1998

In this article we oifer a view that suggests that a firm's critical resources may span firm boun... more In this article we oifer a view that suggests that a firm's critical resources may span firm boundaries and may be embedded in inferiirm resources and routines. We argue that an increasingly important unit of analysis for understanding competitive advantage is the relationship between firms and identify four potential sources of interorganizational competitive advantage: (1) relation-specific assets, (2) knowledgesharing routines, (3) complementary resources/capabilities, and (4) effective governance. We examine each of these potential sources of rent in detail, identifying key subprocesses, and also discuss the isolating mechanisms that serve to preserve relational rents. Finally, we discuss how the relational view may offer normative prescriptions for firm-level strategies that contradict the prescriptions offered by those with a resource-based view or industry structure view.

Academy of Management Journal, 2007

We examined the distribution of benefits to partners in multipartner alliances by concentrating o... more We examined the distribution of benefits to partners in multipartner alliances by concentrating on dynamics of partner entry and involvement. Testing hypotheses in the Wi-Fi Alliance, we observed heterogeneity of benefits. In particular, the extent of organizational involvement in this alliance enhanced partners' reputation and market success with related product introductions but reduced their productivity. Participation in competing alliances enhanced productivity and market success despite potential efficiency losses. Finally, early alliance entrants gained market success, and both early and late entrants were more productive than intermediate entrants. These findings illuminate multipartner alliance complexity and disparity between common and private benefits.

Academy of Management Journal, 2006

Large, established firms acquiring small, technology-based firms must manage them so as to both e... more Large, established firms acquiring small, technology-based firms must manage them so as to both exploit their capabilities and technologies in a coordinated way and foster their exploration capacity by preserving their autonomy. We suggest that acquirers can resolve this coordination-autonomy dilemma by recognizing that the effect of structural form on innovation outcomes depends on the developmental stage of acquired firms' innovation trajectories. Structural integration decreases the likelihood of introducing new products for firms that have not launched products before being acquired and for all firms immediately after acquisition, but these effects disappear as innovation trajectories evolve.

This paper builds upon and extends Maurizio Zollo's dissertation project. The names of the a... more This paper builds upon and extends Maurizio Zollo's dissertation project. The names of the authors are ordered alphabetically. Generous funding from the Sloan Foundation and support from the Wharton Financial Institutions Center and the R&D Department at INSEAD are gratefully ...