Dyer and Singh (1998) also note the importance of social capital in developing
a cooperative strategy and thus an inter-organizational competitive advantage.
Scher uses the same concept to explain Japanese inter-firm networks, and Kale et al.
(2000) show that social capital based on mutual trust creates a context for learning
and knowledge transfer across an exchange and curbs opportunistic behavior. Hence,
we define social capital as a firm’s relationships with its customers and suppliers that
facilitate activities and create value