Towards a better understanding of partnership attributes: An exploratory analysis of relationship type classification

In recent years the creation of partnerships has been espoused by academics and practitioners but despite extensive writing in the area of characterizing partnerships the nature and attributes of partnerships are still only poorly understood. This is due to a lack of empirical testing of the factors that distinguish partnerships from other relational forms and a limited research focus on characteristics that distinguish between polar relationship types. Using a framework developed from the political economy literature this exploratory study draws on an empirical base of 155 supplier questionnaires and uses multiple discriminant analysis to identify attributes of buyer-supplier relationships that most effectively discriminate between relationships classified by suppliers as having limited coordination, being highly coordinated or best described as a partnership. The results indicate that 8 of the 10 attributes of buyer-supplier relationships included in the framework differ significantly across relationship type.     

Trust Formation in Collaborative New Product Development*

This research examines antecedents of trust formation in new product development partnerships and the effect of trust on performance. Trust is modeled as an outcome of communication behavior, shared problem‐solving, perceived fairness, the existence of conflicts during the development project, and partner egoism. The hypotheses are tested with data on 44 product development partnerships representing the perspective of the manufacturer. The findings suggest that communication behavior and fairness are positive contributors to trust. In contrast, conflicts during product development and perceived egoism of the partner appear to have a detrimental effect. High levels of trust were found to create the conditions for successful outcomes. A higher level of trust clearly differentiates between high‐ and low‐performing collaborative relationships in new product development. Trust also was found to be a powerful mediator, particularly as it relates to mitigating conflicts during such partnerships.     

Power priorities in buyer–seller relationships: A comparative analysis

Power, as a significant dimension of relationships, continues to be of critical interest in the inter-organizational literature. This article assesses how different relationship types and strategic foci are related to buyers' and sellers' power priorities. Contributing to the discussion of buyer–seller power priority areas as commercial detail, operational issues, strategic issues and attitudes, the research focuses on the influence of relationship types (new, approved, preferred, partnership) on these power priorities in B2B contexts. This is important as partnerships do not simply emerge, but evolve over time suggesting that for both parties there is a period that is transitory. Through a survey of buyers and sellers (n = 355), the research highlights that as partnerships evolve, relational issues complement, but do not supersede, the focus on commercial and operational concerns. Furthermore, within partnerships, whilst sellers' focus on strategic issues increases, it is the total power that grows and the influence agenda is extended, rather than re-distributed. Additionally, it provides detail on how power priorities vary and are differentially distributed between buyers and sellers in different relationship types. This paper contributes to B2B partnership and power theories, challenging assumptions about relationships and adding weight to the increasing suggestion that relationship success is overplayed.     

Precarious collaboration: Business survival after partners shut down or form new partnerships

Businesses often benefit by forming alliances with other firms but risk becoming dependent on their partners. We discuss two situations in which dependence may create serious problems: first, if a partner shuts down and. second, if a partner forms a relationship with a new partner. We examine collaborative relationships formed by businesses operating in the U.S. hospital software systems industry during the 1961–91 period. We find that businesses faced increased risk of dissolution if they did not form new partnerships after partners shut down or formed collaborative relationships with new partners. The results have implications for developing an evolutionary theory of business strategy and performance. Our approach implies that the performance of a focal business often depends on how the strategies of its business partners evolve over time. An evolutionary theory of strategy must incorporate key characteristics of actions and relationships throughout a web of business partnerships. The dual nature of interfirm relationships, which both help a business survive at one time and inhibit its ability to adapt at another, helps explain why so many successful businesses fail when their environments change.     

An exploratory study into brand alignment in B2B relationships

B2B relationships are characterized by strategic partnerships between firms and the suppliers of goods and services integral to their offerings. Failure to choose the right partner could jeopardize the survival of both partners. While a number of studies suggest that partnering firms need to be aligned operationally, few studies look at whether there should be alignment between the brands of firms and their suppliers. Therefore, we build on existing studies on sexual selection to develop a theory of whether similarity in brand attributes affects the success of B2B relationships. We propose that firms wishing to portray particular brand images to their customers choose suppliers whose images mirror their own. To develop our proposition, we investigate the brand personality alignment between well-known firms and their suppliers in four industries. The findings of our analysis have significant implications for scholars and managers interested in the nature and success of B2B partnerships.     

Alliance networks and firm performance: The impact of repeated partnerships

A phenomenon that has become the focus of recent research on interorganizational alliance network growth is that firms often enter into repeated relationships with prior partners. The implications of this tendency on corporate performance, however, are not well understood. From transaction cost and network perspectives, I test competing hypotheses on a large sample of multinational corporations. My results indicate clearly that firms not only often do enter into repeated equity‐based partnerships but also that those with a greater propensity to do so experience inferior economic performance. Further, statistical tests indicate that the negative effect of repeated partnerships on performance is particularly strong in environments of greater technological uncertainty. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Which ties matter when? the contingent effects of interorganizational partnerships on IPO success

This paper investigates the contingent value of interorganizational relationships at the time of a young firm's initial public offering (IPO). We compare the signaling value to young firms of having ties with two types of interorganizational partnerships: endorsement relationships such as those with venture capital firms and investment banks, and strategic alliance partnerships. We propose that, under different equity market conditions, potential investors in an issuing firm attend to different types of uncertainty; attention to these different types of uncertainty affects investors' perceptions of the relative value of a young firm's different kinds of endorsements and partnerships and, hence, IPO success. Results from a sample of young biotechnology firms show that ties to prominent venture capital firms are particularly beneficial to IPO success during cold markets, while ties to prominent investment banks are particularly beneficial to IPO success during hot markets; a firm's strategic alliances with major pharmaceutical/health care firms did not have such contingent effects. Implications for understanding the contingent value of interorganizational ties are discussed. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Strategic relationships between boundary-spanning functions: Aligning customer relationship management with supplier relationship management

This review focuses on the potential impact of enhanced strategic relationships between the boundary-spanning functions in supplier organizations. Specifically, the concern is with alignment between the organizational groups managing: marketing, sales and strategic account management; purchasing and supply strategy; and, collaborations and external partnerships. The topic is framed by the organizational evolution being driven by market change, and the search for superior innovation capabilities and business agility. These changes bring new challenges in cross-boundary integration and managing complex market networks. The logic is that strategic external relationships (with customers, supplier and partners) should be mirrored in strategic internal relationships (between the functions with lead responsibilities for managing relationships with customers, supplier and partners). Approaches to enhancing this capability include process management, internal partnering strategies and internal marketing activities. The discussion identifies a number of implications for practice and new research directions.     

Gaining from vertical partnerships: knowledge transfer,relationship duration,and supplier performance improvement in the U.S. and Japanese automotive industries

We study sources of operational performance improvement in supplier partnerships. We argue that supplier performance will benefit most where time‐bound relational assets have developed between a buyer and supplier and the firms exploit the resulting communication efficiency by transferring productive knowledge. We examine the effects of two forms of knowledge exchange together with the prior duration of the buyer–supplier relationship. We find similar interaction patterns in two survey samples of Japanese and U.S. automotive suppliers. The effect of ordinary technical exchanges on supplier performance improvement does not vary with relationship duration. The effect of higher‐level technology transfer, however, grows more positive as relationship duration increases. Other results show relevant contrasts consistent with heterogeneous sourcing behavior between the two countries. The findings highlight the role of relational assets and show that it is important to distinguish between simple techniques and higher‐level technological capabilities when studying interfirm relationships. This research extends the literatures on knowledge transfer, buyer–supplier partnerships, and the performance dynamics of interfirm and intrafirm relationships in general. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Trust formation in Korean new product alliances: How important are pre-existing social ties?

The focus of this study is on the nature and influence of social connections versus other relational mechanisms on trust formation in an emerging Asian economy. We examine the role of communication quality, perceived fairness, and pre-existing social relationships for the formation of trust in 47 vertical new product development alliances in South Korea. The empirical results indicate a relatively minor importance of pre-existing social ties vis-à-vis communication quality and fairness for the development of trust. Contrary to widespread perceptions, pre-existing social ties do not appear to directly contribute to establishing trust with external alliance partners in Korea. Multiple explanations are offered for this unexpected finding. Instead, existing social relationships moderate the importance of fairness for trust formation. When conducting partnerships with Korean firms, managers should focus more on a quality communication and fair behavior when trust formation is the objective, than on social connections.     

Diverging expectations in buyer-seller relationships: Institutional contexts and relationship norms

Many firms assume that outsourcing partnerships may allow them to strengthen their overall competitiveness. Lured by its intuitive appeal, several enter into such partnerships, only to realize that they represent a marginal rather than a magical solution to their quest for increasing market performance. An important reason for this is the diverging beliefs and expectations held by both parties in the buyer-seller dyad. The purpose of this contribution is to develop a framework for understanding the divergences in expectations and relationship norms in cross-cultural business relationships among SMEs. We discuss four relational expectations derived from the B2B literature on relational norms for addressing these divergences: Quality, frequency and scope of communication, role specifications and coordination of work nature of planning horizons, and trustworthiness and link these to relationship performance. We explore the proposed impact of diverging relationship norms on relationship expectations using data from an ongoing field study of Danish buyers and Chinese suppliers. We link these diverging expectations to the business practices of Danish buyers and Chinese and their institutional contexts. In the concluding part of the paper, we discuss our findings and outline implications for management and academia.     

Configuring and managing strategic supplier portfolios

Acknowledging that not all supplier relationships can nor should be close partnerships, this article explores the development of strategic supplier portfolios. The strategic portfolio perspective considers risks, trade-offs, and interdependencies between the firm's array of supplier relationships. Based on over 50 interviews with managers and archival data from 12 multinational companies, a strategic supplier portfolio management framework is developed. The authors explore processes that firms use to plan, implement, and monitor strategic supplier portfolios. This research indicates that by assembling superior supplier bases, developing suppliers and integrating them into product development and manufacturing, strategic supplier portfolios contribute to competitive advantage.     

Power and interdependence in buyer supplier relationships: A purchasing portfolio approach

Power and interdependence are generally considered to be important concepts for understanding buyer-supplier relationships. Yet, empirical research on power and interdependence in buyer-supplier relationships is still limited. Power and interdependence issues also play an important role in Kraljic's portfolio approach, which is increasingly used by purchasing practitioners for managing different supplier relations and developing appropriate purchasing strategies. In this paper, the concepts of power and interdependence have been quantified for each quadrant of the Kraljic portfolio matrix, using data from a comprehensive survey among Dutch purchasing professionals. Several hypotheses have been tested and the findings largely confirm the theoretical expectations. The observed supplier dominance in the strategic quadrant of the Kraljic matrix is a notable finding, which indicates that even satisfactory partnerships are dominated by the supplier. Therefore, the presumed power symmetry of buyer-supplier relationships in the strategic quadrant seems no longer valid.     

Supply Chain Relationships for Customer Satisfaction in China: Interdependence and Cooperative Goals

This study develops a model based on Deutsch’s theory of cooperation and competition to clarify the supply chain relationships and interactions that contribute to customer satisfaction. Results of structural equation analyses suggest that organizations and suppliers and organizations and distributors who recognize each other’s importance develop cooperative rather than competitive and independent goals. With cooperative goals, they come to trust each other and work for continuous improvement; these relationships in turn result in the products and service that satisfy customers. Results were interpreted as suggesting that cooperative goals are an important basis for developing effective supply chain partnerships in Asia and perhaps in other regions as well.     

顾客资产研究的关系视角

随着顾客导向时代的到来，顾客的生命线作用和顾客作为企业战略资产的价值已日益为人们所认同和重视。然而，10年来，人们对顾客资产价值的认知，主要还停留在顾客资产的货币价值层面上。而实际上．除货币价值外。顾客资产还存在极为重要的、不容忽视的非货币价值。本文结合“顾客角色”定位理论．对顾客资产价值进行了较为全面和深入的剖析．指出顾客资产价值的基石在于顾客关系。文章还对伙伴式顾客关系的本质特征做了分析．并认为企业顾客资产的运营活动应该自始自终紧扣“顾客关系”这根弦。     

New Contractual Relationships in the Agency Worker Market: The Case of the UK's National Health Service

In recent years, there has been a trend towards the negotiation of closer contractual relationships between employers and employment agencies. However, little is known about this change or its likely consequences. In theory, such relationships can benefit employers by lowering fees and also reducing many of the hidden costs associated with the use of agency staff by improving the effectiveness of placement matching. Against this is the suggestion that formal partnerships are unlikely to have a positive impact given the uncertainty of demand for temporary labour and broader tendencies for risk displacement in buyer–supplier networks. In this article, our aim is to explore this matter focusing on recent developments in the UK's National Health Service. We find that new contractual relationships such as framework agreements and master vendor contracts are having mixed effects. While they serve to reduce direct costs for employers in the short term, this has been at the expense of relationship building and improvements in placement matching. These developments are also found to have some potentially negative consequences for the agency workforce itself.     

Relationship governance for very different partners: The corporation-nonprofit case

Organizations increasingly form relationships with partners that have goals, values or operating cultures different to their own. These relationships have significant potential to generate innovative products or services and increase opportunities for service delivery. While they can provide greater access to resources, infrastructure or stakeholders, they can struggle with collaboration. Such partnerships may also encounter differences in the role of governance mechanisms such as trust and commitment. Only limited research however has addressed the governance implications of such relationships. We compared managers' perspectives on relationship governance mechanisms for 267 nonprofits and 276 corporations involved in corporate-nonprofit relationships. We found that ‘fit’ - compatibility and complementarity - was important to performance in such relationships. We found also however that nonprofits valued the role of trust in these relationships significantly more than corporations. Our findings suggest potential for significant success in these types of relationships but also possible complications from differences of opinion as to how they should be governed. While relationships between very different partners can succeed, they should remain cognizant of differences in each partner's expectations for relationship governance and its role in relationship performance.     

Development of Trust: A Study of Interfirm Relationships in Vietnam

The radical political and economic reforms sweeping through former socialist countries during the last decade have opened rich opportunities for privately owned businesses to emerge and develop. Since the market institutions and infrastructures in these countries are largely underdeveloped, private firms in transition economies rely extensively on interfirm partnerships. This raises the question of how—in the absence of institutions that legitimate markets, contracts, and private property—managers of new business ventures develop new relationships. This paper addresses this issue through analysis of multiple subcontracting relationships formed at a private garment company in Vietnam. This analysis suggests that firms in transition economies develop interfirm trust in ways that are quite different from their counterparts in more highly developed economies.     

Inter-organizational Relations and Employment in a Multi-employer Environment

This study focuses on the employment dimensions of inter‐organizational relations, taking as an example a large regional airport. The dense and complex relationships that emerge in a multi‐agency setting are highlighted to illustrate the tensions and contradictions that characterize the management of workers in an environment where contracting and recontracting predominate. These findings suggest that there is a need, on the one hand, to include inter‐organizational relations in the study of the employment relationship and, on the other hand, to reinsert employment issues into the analysis of inter‐organizational contracting and partnerships.