臺大管理論叢 NTU Management Review VOL.29 NO.1

The Moderating Effects of Firm Capabilities and Governance Modes on the Network-Performance Relation 164 5. Conclusions, Implications, and Limitations This study reveals three main findings. First, we show that external networks positively affect firm performance by helping firms access necessary resources. Through external networks such as R&D and supply chain ties with other organizations, firms could benefit from new sources of knowledge and technology; this is consistent with the theoretical arguments made in prior research (e.g., Eisenhardt and Schoonhoven, 1996). Extending this line of research, our results further indicate that, although external networks in general lead to better firm performance, the extent of positive effect depends on several important contingencies such as firm capabilities and governance modes. Accordingly, this study answers an important, but under-addressed question in the extant literature, i.e., why and how external networks influence firm performance, and why sometimes there appears to be no effects. Second, we show that a firm’s own capabilities serve as a substitute for external network resources. The arguments of this study differ from some recent research which suggests that external networks play a moderating role in the relation between firm capabilities and firm performance on the basis of resource deployment (e.g., Vandaie and Zaheer, 2014, 2015). Depending on the theory of resource dependence, however, this study argues that the interaction between firm capabilities and external networks is based on the substitution effect of firm internal capabilities on firm external resources. In other words, benefits of external networks exhibit diminishing marginal returns when firm capabilities can replace some of the resources provided by external networks. Taken together, this study offers another theoretical lens to examine the relationship between external networks, firm capabilities, and firm performance. Third, although the resource dependence theory proposes that firms can minimize environmental dependences by adopting different strategies such as vertical integration, mergers, joint ventures, strategic alliances, and joint R&D agreements (e.g., Pfeffer and Salancik, 1978), this study further argues that the strategies could be identified by the extent to which the equity-based arrangements and governance modes are applied in the inter-organizational relationships. Thus, this study contributes to the resource dependence theory by expanding our understandings of the role of equity-based governance modes in inter-organizational relationships and external networks. Nonetheless, it is important to note the limitations of our research in terms of the validity and generalizability of our empirical findings. First, because all of the firms in the