Going Beyond Local Search in Alliance Networks : Technological Knowledge Base and Network Position as Predictors of Clique Spanning Ties

Cliques (of densely connected alliance partners) have been largely neglected in technological alliances studies. In this study, we show that cliques and their dynamics are an interesting angle, to analyze why certain firms are better in going beyond local search than others. Clique spanning ties can be expected to have strategic advantages for firms maneuvering themselves in a position as broker between two dense regions in the alliance network. We examine the effects of technological-, firm-, ego network-, and clique level characteristics on the formation of cliques spanning ties for a sample of 75 ASIC-manufacturers. We find strong evidence that both technological portfolio characteristics and network positions of focal firms play a considerable role in explaining the probability that they will establish clique spanning ties