We develop and test the conditions under which a firm mitigates the impact of partners’ bargaining power on firm performance in its alliances portfolio. We propose that although the bargaining power of partners constrains firm performance, this negative impact is contingent upon a firm’s own characteristics. Our longitudinal analysis of 64 semiconductor firms shows that the impact of partners’ bargaining power decreases when firms’ relative commitment to technological resources is high. In particular, the effect of such resource commitment is stronger when firms have relatively low status. These results suggest the significant implications when a firm leverages the resource endowments of partners in its alliance portfolio.
