Abstract
This dissertation integrates both network and technology as embeddedness factors of strategy selection in firm-dyad level. First, network embeddedness includes relational, structural, and positional dimensions; each reflects the cohesion, equivalence, and prominence mechanisms in motivating actions. I argue that besides local search for acquaintance, firms also search for targets at parallel structures and positions within the entire network. Second, technological attributes such as similarity, complementarily and crowding are considered when referring to technological position in relation to others. Data were gathered by the alliance network and patenting activity in the U.S. biopharmaceutical industry. The evidence supported the prediction that when facing others with such network- and technological contexts of embeddedness, firms are more likely to forge M&A rather than just alliance with each other. By dimensionalizing network and technology attributes systematically, I contribute both to embeddedness and strategic choice studies.