Comparison to other theories
The relational view supplements existing views. While the industry structure view explains superior returns with a firm's membership in an industry with specific structural characteristics, and the resource-based view explains superior returns with firm heterogeneity,Barney, J.B. (1991): Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of Management, Vol. 17, pp. 99-120. the relational view argues that idiosyncratic interfirm linkages are a source of relational rents.Relational rents
Dyer and Singh define a relational rent as "a supernormal profit jointly generated in an exchange relationship that cannot be generated by either firm in isolation and can only be created through the joint idiosyncratic contributions of the specific alliance partners". The achievement of rents is subject to relational risk. Later research suggested companies adopt a relational strategic orientation and designSources of relational rents
Dyer and Singh propose four sources of relational rents: #relation-specific assets, #knowledge-sharing routines, #complementary resources/capabilities, and #effective governance.References
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