Research summary: This article explores the distribution of alliances across firms' internal structure. Focusing on multinational companies, we examine the impact of alliance portfolio concentration—i.e., the extent to which alliances are concentrated within a limited number of geographic units—on focal firms' performance. Relying on Knowledge‐Based View (KBV) insights, we hypothesize that an increase in alliance portfolio concentration positively influences firm performance and that alliance portfolio size negatively moderates this relationship. Our empirical results enrich the emerging capability perspective on alliance portfolios, point to the relevance of conceptualizing focal firms in alliance portfolio research as polylithic entities instead of monolithic ones, and provide new insights into how firms create value by potentially recombining externally accessed knowledge. Managerial summary: In the setting of multinational companies, we examine whether alliance activities are concentrated in a limited number of subsidiaries or are highly dispersed across multiple subsidiaries. We find that, over time, firms exhibit different patterns in terms of alliance portfolio concentration. In addition, the results show that, for MNCs with a relatively small alliance portfolio, an increase in alliance portfolio concentration is positively related to their financial performance. However, when MNCs' alliance portfolios are relatively large, the relationship between alliance portfolio concentration and firm performance becomes negative. Jointly, these findings suggest that the distribution of alliances across firms' internal structure is an important factor in shaping potential knowledge recombination benefits from alliance portfolios. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In this paper, we explore under which conditions subsidiaries of multinational corporations can benefit from the external networks of sister subsidiaries in terms of new knowledge generation. We focus on the phenomenon of unconnected sister alliances—that is, alliances of sister subsidiaries with whom the focal subsidiary lacks a recent history of internal R&D collaboration. Whereas unconnected sister alliances provide knowledge recombination opportunities for the focal subsidiary, realizing them is challenging because of particular knowledge transfer frictions. In this paper, we theorize on how particular conditions (i.e., headquarters proximity, knowledge overlap, size of focal subsidiary’s own alliance network) influence the strength of these frictions, resulting in hypotheses on how these conditions moderate the relationship between the number of unconnected sister alliances and the generation of new knowledge by focal subsidiaries. We rely on a panel data set of 2,258 R&D subsidiaries belonging to 118 firms in the pharmaceutical industry to empirically test our hypotheses. Jointly, our findings enrich our current theoretical understanding of how different types of external linkages and their interactions shape subsidiaries’ generation of new knowledge. We also illuminate the opportunities and challenges that multistep knowledge transfer processes entail.

a b s t r a c t Available online xxxxKeywords: Secrecy Innovation Appropriability Secrecy management lifecycle Purpose -The current study provides a literature review on secrecy as mechanism for appropriating value from innovation. It synthesizes previous findings into a framework that can explain the advantages of exercising secrecy versus patenting. It also examines the management lifecycle of secrecy. Design/methodology/approach -It takes a dynamic perspective and suggests a four-stage secrecy management lifecycle: creation of secret, installation of preventive mechanisms, protection and exploitation, and minimization of leakage. Findings -Based on the four stages, the study highlights under-researched areas, and develops a future research agenda for secrecy management. Originality/value -Despite the managerial and academic relevance of this topic, extant research does not offer a comprehensive framework for the concept of secrecy. This study provides a dynamic perspective to highlight the important aspects of secrecy management during the lifecycle of secrets.

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Deze studie onderzoekt de gehele populatie van ruim 3 miljoen jongeren woonachtig in Nederland en hun volledige netwerken van familieleden, huisgenoten, buren, klasgenoten en collega's. Deze netwerken geven formeel geregistreerde relaties weer, en zijn volgens een nieuwe methode uit registerinformatie afgeleid. Jongeren hebben een grotere kans op een politieregistratie als verdachte als het aandeel verdachten in hun netwerken groter is. Eerdere studies zijn vooral gebaseerd op een klein aantal jongeren en netwerkleden en richten zich op specifieke soorten netwerken. Dit is de eerste keer dat de samenhang in criminaliteit tussen Nederlandse jongeren en hun netwerkleden op zo'n grootschalige manier is vastgesteld.