ABSTRACT
This chapter provides preliminary conceptualization of how internationalizing new ventures may build and leverage Multinational Enterprise (MNE) relationships as part of their social capital portfolios. MNE ties potentially represent a source of social capital that is local and bridging, in terms of the dissimilarity between the partners and the access to novel information, ideas, and opportunities. Relationships between new ventures and large MNEs are particularly salient for both sets of actors when the former develop distinctive intellectual property (IP). Even though power asymmetries may to some extent be assuaged by a new venture's technological distinctiveness, there remain organizational asymmetries and concerns about value appropriation to contend with. Floyd and Wooldridge propose that strategic renewal entails three underlying processes: idea generation, initiative development, and strategic renewal. Nahapiet and Ghoshal argue that innovation-and strategy-related activity in both large and small organizations is not confined to formal activities.
