Interorganizational Cooperation and Competition: Within Alliances the Impact of Network Centrality on Firm Performance

• Main Authors: Tsai-Wei Chien, 簡采薇
• Other Authors: Kuo-Pin Yang
• Format: Others
• Published: 2015
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/52935s

碩士 === 國立東華大學 === 國際企業學系 === 103 === While network theory proposes that centrality represents an important strategic position for mobilizing resource, the resource dependence theory depicts that interdependence reduces the uncertainty of external environment. This thesis integrates the two theories to study the effects of simultaneous competition and cooperation among the firms within an alliance on firm performance. Using the route data of the three largest alliances in global airline industry in 2013, this study distinguished and constructed three types of networks, namely, the competition network, the depending (resource provider) network, and the dependent (resource recipient) network to examine the relationship between centrality and firm performance. The results show that the degree of centrality of member firms in a competition network was positively correlated with firm performance, and so was in a depending network. Furthermore, empirical evidence shows that both centralities in depending and dependent networks weaken the positive relationship between the centrality of the firms and firm performance in a competition network. These results bear important implications for theory and practice with regard to the competition and cooperation within an alliance.