Multinational Corporation Success through Corporate Social Performance

Multinational Corporation Success through Corporate Social Performance

Cross-sector alliances enable firms to gain competitive advantages that lead to superior financial performance. Despite the increasing importance of cross-sector alliances, researchers have paid little attention to explaining cross-sector alliance success. Using resource-advantage theory of competition (R-A theory) as an underlying framework, the present study develops a model that draws on the resource-based theory of the firm and the competence-based theory of the firm in order to explain cross-sector alliance success. The authors theorize that the three approaches are interdependent and develop an integrative model. This model proposes that the three approaches are linked by means of relationships among (1) cross-sector alliance competence, (2) complementary resources (e.g., nonprofit organization allies knowledge and reputation) and (3) an idiosyncratic resource (i.e., corporate social responsibility program performance). The model further proposes that resources, construed in the manner of the R-A theory, influence cross-sector alliance success through competitive advantage.