Management of technological resource dependencies in interorganizational networks

Abstract

The superior performance of a firm is achieved neither through technology nor the surrounding organizational structure per se, but through the successful alignment of technological resource dependencies and interorganizational structures in interorganizational networks. This dissertation focuses on the dependencies that emerge from the product system level and from technological knowledge, and their impact on interorganizational relations and the boundaries between firms. This thesis adopts the viewpoint of a focal firm that is either a systems integrator or incumbent firm engaged in technology acquisition, and is trying to manage these technological resource dependencies.

Publication I concentrates on concerns of how direct and indirect dependencies in a network could be better understood. This approach was also applied in conceptual publications II and III, which investigate the characteristics of buyer-supplier relationships and the make or buy question faced by a focal firm due to technological resource dependencies, as well as the moderating role of the complexity of the product system. Publication IV provides the main empirical part of this dissertation by leveraging patent data with data on mergers and acquisitions. Statistical analyses of U.S. technology acquisitions in various high-technology industries confirm the expectation that the target firm prices increase, especially when many other firms directly or indirectly build on the target’s knowledge, as measured through patent citations. Thus, this thesis develops and empirically tests the hypothesis that the position of a target in its interorganizational resource dependence network affects the value of their resources to the acquirer, as reflected in the acquisition price.

This thesis mainly contributes to the theory of systems of production by suggesting that technological resource dependencies at the technology and product system levels are the ones which influence where the boundaries of firms are, but there are technological knowledge level structures emerging from technological trajectories that set the directions of these dependencies. It is crucial to emphasize the sequence of tasks, such as design or production from the focal firm’s perspective, and thus the direction of technological resource dependencies, both direct and indirect, between the focal firm and other firms.