Therefore, the literature on interorganizational trust has much relevance to the study of global
organizations. Recently this literature has begun to give more attention to the role of what is termed
relational capital (Chen, Chen, & Ku, 2004). Relational capital is primarily concerned with business
networks and the interfirm relationships that exist within these networks. It concerns the sets
of interdependent business relationships upon which repeated business transactions are based and
thereby includes the goodwill and trust that exist between a firm and its customers, suppliers, partners,
government agencies, research institutions, and so forth. Again, with regard to the question of
whether firms should transfer HR systems globally, competitive advantage is assumed to result from
this form of capital primarily for four reasons.