The capabilities of the transnational firm: Accessing knowledge and leveraging inter-firm relationships

The nature of competition imposes a fundamental re-examination of strategies, both at the corporate and business level. Observation of a large number of firms reveals changes aimed at creating more permeable boundaries for breaking down costs, while increasing efficiency in product innovation and manufacturing. What appears to be relevant in many of these efforts is the emergence of transnational organisational architectures (TOA) in which the value-generating activities are distributed among different countries and actors, and then recomposed at the corporate level without losing efficiency. In this paper, we put forward the proposition that relational capability represents a distinctive competence for the transnational firm. The ability to access new knowledge or complementary capabilities, and to leverage inter-firm relationships and opportunities wherever they arise emerges as a critical factor for success on a global scale.