“…Managerial ties-the boundary-spanning ties and interpersonal connections of top managers-have vital influences on a corporation's activities (Burt, 1992;Uzzi, 1996) and may be a source of competitive advantage (Mizruchi, 1996;Tsang, 1998) and superior performance (Batjargal, 2003;Park & Luo, 2001). Top managers devote their efforts to developing and maintaining relationships with partners in order to acquire external resources which will enable them to be continually innovative and to produce products and services at competitive prices and high quality (Burt, 1992;Kraatz, 1998;Pennings & Lee, 1999;Pennings, Lee, & van Witteloostuijn, 1998;Uzzi, 1996). Peng and Luo (2000) and Li (2005) identify two types of managerial ties: (1) ties with business partners, which are connections with top managers at other corporations, such as buyers, suppliers, and competitors, and (2) ties with the government, which are connections with government officials (Luo & Chen, 1997;Peng & Luo, 2000).…”