Alliance partners and firm performance: resource complementarity and status association

Abstract Bridging the resource‐based view and the institutional perspective, this study explores the performance consequences of firms' alliance partner selections by examining the interactions of resource complementarity and institutional associations (reflected through both societal and network status) between the firm and its partners. The integrative framework suggests that a joint consideration of resource complementarity and status effects, as well as important firm‐ and environmental‐level contingent factors, are critical for understanding the underlying mechanisms of alliance formations and their effects on firm performance. Further, our study suggests that it is necessary to consider both societal and network status as they can have distinct effects under certain conditions. Our analyses of four U.S. industries (computer, steel, pharmaceutics, crude petroleum and natural gas) over a span of 13 years largely support our framework. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.