Extending prior firm boundary research that tends to focus on economic explanations and rely on atomistic assumptions, we propose a multilevel framework by bridging the resource-based view and the social network perspective, with their respective emphases on the importance of firms ’ internal resource endowments and external resource opportunities. Specifically, we argue that firms ’ boundary choices can be better understood by considering the tension between the need for external resources and the need for risk controls, affected by internal and external resource factors at three important levels: firm characteristics, dyadic differences, and network attributes. We also explore firms ’ boundary choices under two conditions: whether to initiate external relationships (non-partnering vs. partnering) and whether to pursue either alliances or acquisitions if external relationships are needed. Our analyses of the United States computer industry over a nine-year span largely support our theoretical framework and demonstrate the importance of unique factors at and across individual, dyadic, and network levels in understanding firms ’ boundary choices. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

What drives mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in different institutional environments? This article builds on the resource dependence perspective and argues that networks, learning, and institutions represent three building blocks that can enhance our understanding of the drivers behind M&As. Specifically, we consider firms as learning actors embedded in network relations and influenced by institutional development, and compare and contrast firms ’ acquisition activities across the United States and China. Our findings show that there are indeed important learning and network factors that lead to M&As. More interestingly, the impact of such learning and network factors varies sharply across countries with different market-based institutions. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Extending prior research on firm boundaries that tends to focus on economic explanations and rely on atomistic assumptions, we propose a multi-level framework by bridging the resource-based view and the social network perspective, with their respective emphases on the importance of firms ’ internal resource endowments and external resource opportunities. Specifically, we argue that firms ’ boundary choices can be better understood by considering the tension between the need for external resources and the need for risk controls, affected by the attributes of both internal and external resources. We examine factors at three important levels: firm characteristics, dyadic differences, and network attributes. We also explore firms’ boundary choices under two conditions: whether to initiate external relationships (non-partnering vs. partnering) and whether to pursue either alliances or acquisitions if external relationships are needed. Our analyses of the United States computer industry over a nine-year span largely support our theoretical framework and demonstrate the importance of unique factors at and across individual, dyadic, and network

recent development in the organizational economics approach to strategy management concerns the integration of the organizational capabilities view and the transaction costs theory. My dissertation takes on this task focusing on transaction costs economics, dynamic capabilities, and temporal dimensions in the evolution of an industry. Essay one provides a constructive literature review on recent works and develops a framework to facilitate further integrative efforts in our inquiry into the firm boundary question. Essay two studies a firm’s boundary choice for a given value-chain activity when entering a new industry, asking: what are the main and moderating effects of transaction hazards and pre-entry organizational capabilities on the choice between internalization and external development of a value-chain activity? Essay three examines a firm’s technology management and industry entry strategies when facing an emerging radical technology, asking how non-redeployable complementary assets embedded in an incumbent’s existing capabilities and boundaries affect managers ’ decision-making in the face of uncertainties. I further enhance the theoretical coherence across the three essays by employing the same empirical setting for hypotheses testing: the nascent U.S. biofuels industry. I collect secondary data about boundary choice and primary data about managerial decision-making. I triangulate data from