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We explore the interplay between homophilic preferences, reciprocity, and societal values in the formation of venture capital investment syndicates in China. Both Chinese and U.S. syndicate lead firms generally prefer including their fellow compatriot firms over comparable non-compatriots in the investment syndicates that they assemble. When a Chinese firm initiates a collaborative first move by including a U.S. firm in an investment syndicate, however, the U.S. firm no longer prefers comparably familiar U.S. firms over the Chinese firm when it subsequently chooses among prospective syndicate partner firms to include in its investment syndicates. In such cases, familiarity triggers impartiality; the experiential trust that was garnered from the collaborative first-move engagement initiated by the Chinese firm diminishes the nationality-based homophilic preferences of the U.S. firm. We do not find similar dynamics when the tables are turned. When a U.S. firm initiates a collaborative first move by including a Chinese firm in an investment syndicate, the Chinese firm subsequently remains partial to fellow compatriot firms that are otherwise comparable to the U.S. firm. The homophilic preferences and identity-based trust between Chinese firms grounded in shared nationality are resilient to any goodwill created by U.S. firms when they initiate collaborative first moves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore how an incumbent firm's internal inventor network configuration influences its ability to assimilate and absorb new venture technologies. We find that incumbents that have internal inventor network configurations in which inventors are heavily clustered into cohesive subgroups of interconnected inventors are more likely to build on new venture technologies. We suggest that such networks engender specific social capital in terms of information conduits, trust, and common vernaculars that is ideal for inventors to translate and share with their cluster members the technological insights that they have derived from outside sources. Moreover, any insularity that may result from having cohesive clusters is mitigated by internal competition between clusters. In contrast, having a highly connected inventor network engenders social capital that impedes incumbents' absorption of new venture technologies. Broadly distributed access to internal technology, combined with a strong social identity that results from high levels of connectedness, can lead to insularity and a "not invented here" syndrome. We also find that highly connected internal inventor networks diminish any advantage that incumbent firms gain from having corporate venture capital investments in new ventures in terms of absorbing their technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Received wisdom suggests that multipartner alliances are relatively unstable because of their complexity and the increased potential for free riding. Nonetheless, multipartner alliances do benefit from built-in stabilizing third-party ties [...]

Administrative social influence is a principal tool for motivating employee behavior. The authors argue that the compliance of professional employees (e.g., doctors) with administrative social influence will depend on the degree to which these employees identify with their profession and organization. Professional employees were found to be most receptive to administrator social influence to adopt new work behavior when they strongly identified with the organization and weakly identified with the profession. In contrast, administrator social influence was counterproductive when professional employees strongly identified with the profession and weakly identified with the organization. Keywords: organizational identification, professional identification, social influence, professionals

This study examines the influence that national culture has on the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and strategic alliance formation. Using a sample of small- to medium-sized enterprises located in Finland, [...]