Resource fit in inter‐firm partnership: intellectual capital perspective

Previous studies on strategic alliance and network have not paid sufficient attention to resource fit based on intellectual capital perspective. This study aims at understanding the input resources and transformation in a dyadic inter‐firm partnership, given different types of value logics.

This study adopts a multiple case study approach by in‐depth interviews in three inter‐firm cooperative cases, which represent three different types of value‐creating logics – value chain, value shop, and value network. This study applies the intellectual capital navigator (ICN) to analyze the resource transformation among human capital, organizational capital, relational capital, physical capital, and monetary capital that was produced by two sides in three inter‐firm partnerships.

The results show that: given value chain logic, while the inter‐firm partnership emphasizes standardization, efficiency and economy of scale, resource fit in physical, monetary, and organizational capital forms the basis of value creation; given value shop logic, while the inter‐firm partnership emphasizes problem solution and economy of scope, resource fit in human and organizational capital forms the basis of value creation; and, given value network logic, while the inter‐firm partnership emphasizes network economic behavior, resource fit in human, organizational, and relational capital forms the basis of value creation.

Taking the unit of analysis at dyad level, this study demonstrates the detailed resources contributed by the focal company and its partners based on different value logics.

This study extends the use of the intellectual capital approach for analyzing the resource fit in the inter‐firm context.

Theoretically, this study contributes as a starting‐point for analyzing the resource input and transformation in the inter‐organizational context by using an intellectual capital approach. Practically, this study contributes to more practical references so as to reveal, given different types of value‐creating logic, how two partnering companies can manage and deploy their intellectual capital and traditional resources in order to fit in the inter‐firm cooperation.