Knowledge Transfer in Vertical Alliances: Advantages for whom?

Previous research has shown that vertical learning alliances help suppliers acquire knowledge to forge new capabilities and attain performance improvements. We ask whether such supplier improvements are exclusive to the learning partnership, or available in other average partnerships. We integrate theoretical elements from the resource-based and relational views to theorize that partnership exclusive performance, termed here ‘relational performance’, is a function of suppliers acquiring know how within the dyad, developing dyad-specific assets and capabilities and structuring buyer-supplier relational governance mechanisms. Based on empirical evidence from a survey with 253 suppliers to the equipment industry, we find that only parts of the supplier’s newly acquired capabilities are exclusive to the learning partnership, while the rest seems to permeate to the supplier’s average customer base. We discuss implications for research and practice.