The spectrum of inter-organizational relationships and social capital mobilization of MNEs

PurposeMultinational enterprises (MNEs) establish a wide range of alliances to access the critical resources that they may need at any one time. Although inter-organizational relationships (IORs) constitute the channels through which social capital flows, MNEs should consider which mechanisms or characteristics of the relations facilitate their actual mobilization.Design/methodology/approachA definition of alliance types yielded the parameters for an ordinary least squares regression of a sample from top global-reach MNEs from the airline industry.FindingsThe results showed that certain kind of alliances favored the actual mobilization of social capital.Practical implicationsManagers of MNEs must select the type of IOR taking into account the objective they pursue and the type of activity they will include.Originality/valueAnalyzing the factors that influence the degree of mobilization of social capital and how MNEs actually use the resources of the partners require the establishment of a theoretical framework and the development of empirical evidence.