Resource dependence theory

Resource dependence theory is a fancy way of describing how some people and organizations need things from other people and organizations to survive and do things. Imagine you are playing with blocks and you want to build a tower. But you only have a few blocks, so you need to ask your friend for some more blocks to build a taller tower.

The same thing happens with businesses and companies. They need certain things like money, materials, and people's skills to do stuff like make products or provide services. But they might not have all those things on their own, so they depend on other businesses or people to give them what they need. For example, if a restaurant wants to make delicious food, it needs to depend on farmers to grow vegetables and farmers need seeds, water, and fertilizers that are often provided by other companies.

This theory says that who has the power in a relationship is based on who needs the other one more. If the restaurant is super popular and needs a lot of vegetables, they will have more power over the farmers than the other way around. But if the restaurant can't find any other farmers to give them vegetables, they will have to take whatever the farmers offer and the farmers will have more power in the relationship.