Multiple-Case Study On The Relationship Between TMT’s Tie Strength Type And Resources Acquisition

Any enterprise enterprises cannot possess all the resources they need. The development of enterprises needs to acquire resources from TMT’s social network, such as technical, human and financial resources. The resource acquisition largely determines the effectiveness and efficiency of the enterprise. However, the resource acquired through TMT’s social networks is not necessarily a critical resource or an important resource for enhancing the corporate competitiveness. Therefore, the study on what type of tie strength brings high efficiency is essential, such as, How to define and classify TMT’s tie strength? What follows from the results are the broader implications? What factors affect the enterprise resource access? What is the way to get the resources? What is the source of resources? The significance of different types of resources for the enterprise is the same? This dissertation deals with all the aforementioned problems in the purpose of covering gaps in regional study, enlarging scholar viewpoints and promoting theoretical research as well as practical operation.Using multiple cases research method and targeting24TMT’s social network in four machinery manufacturing companies as the research objective. Redefining and subdividing of weak ties and strong ties for TMT’s social network. The research shows that, there are five dimensions to divide the strength of TMT’s ties:the frequency of interaction, the amount of time, the emotional intimacy, the degree of reciprocity, the physical investments. Four combinations of types of TMT’s strong ties and weak ties:strong working-strong personal ties, strong working-weak personal ties, weak working-strong personal ties, weak working-weak personal ties. TMT’s tie strength type is a three-dimensional model which is consisted of working tie strength, personal tie strength and relationship types. There are twenty kinds of possibilities. Companies can also get different types of resource based on different tie strength type, but not the stronger ties TMT own, the more resource firm get. Companies’competitive ability is decided by the strategic knowledge resources and is supported by operational resources.