A role of network embeddedness of partners and an asymmetry of business relatedness of two firms has been acknowledged as an important factor for total value creation in collaborative relations. This was mostly looked for a case of new ties creation, but not for tie loss. Divestitures, by their turn, are corporate transactions which encompass detachment from firm’s current activities. The literature remained salient on a relationship between divestitures, alliances and networks. Although inter-organizational relationships in pre- and post-divestiture period may lead for higher value creation from these deals by ensuring the best owner for the firm’s formal activities and a maintained access to valuable resources while avoiding the sudden disturbance of former linkages. Drawing on the concepts of embeddedness and business relatedness this article aims at enhancing our understanding of divestiture process. I explore the possible impact of divestor’s inter-organizational and intra-organizational ties to future divestiture decisions. Firstly, I propose that prior inter-organizational relationships between divestor and buyer lead to higher propensity of divestiture deal between two parties due to partner-specific knowledge during pre-divestiture period. Secondly, I examine the propensity of inter-organizational relationships’ creation between parties in post-divestiture period to divested resource characteristics, and more precisely to a level of divested business relatedness to remaining operations.
