The exploitation of an international firm's relational capabilities: An empirical study

The study focuses on an international firm's relational capabilities that mediate to effectively facilitate organizational collaborations. We assess how the influence that arises from an international firm's cooperative strategies including market futures, trust and business network may affect the exploitation of the firm's relational capabilities and its impact on performance, using survey data from 320 firms. This study empirically tests how the effects of an international firm's market futures, trust and business network influence the exploitation of the firm's relational capabilities. Results of structural equation modeling do indicate that trust and business network influence the exploitation of a firm's relational capabilities. This study confirms that the leveraging of an international firm's relational capability within its focal trust and business networking does achieve superior performance. © 2010 Taylor & Francis.