Cullen. J. B. et al. 2000. Sucess through Commitment and Trust: the soft side of strategic alliance management. Journal of World Business 35(3):223-240

This article argues that the success of international strategic alliances requires attention not only to the hard
side of alliance management (e.g., financial issues and other operational issues) but, also, to the soft side.
The soft side refers to the development and management of relationship capital in the alliance. Relationship
capital consists of the socio-psychological aspects of the alliance that are positive and beneficial to the
alliance. Two important areas of relationship capital are mutual trust and commitment. Based on our
findings from two major studies of Japanese strategic alliances, we develop a dynamic model of trust and
commitment based on mutual adjustments of alliance partners. We also show how the dynamics of trust and
commitment affect the performance of international strategic alliances with the Japanese. The article
concludes with a discussion of the managerial implications of our findings and the dynamic model.