Effects of inter-organizational compatibility on supply chain capabilities: Exploring the mediating role of inter-organizational information systems (IOIS) integration

Growing globalization and environmental uncertainty have increased the challenges managers face in delivering services or products to the customer. Integration of information systems across partnering organizations has become the backbone of supply chain management, as amalgamation facilitates the sharing of information required to enhance organizational flexibility and responsiveness while minimizing risk and inventory costs. Using data from the Australian retailing sectors, this study investigates the mediating role of inter-organizational information system (IOIS) integration on the relationships between inter-organizational compatibility and supply chain capabilities. The results indicate that inter-organizational compatibility of technical, strategic, and cultural inter-organizational dimensions facilitate IOIS integration and supply chain capabilities. To maximize benefits for all chain members, IOIS integration needs to be embedded in the strategies and goals of partnering organizations. Business-to-business and industrial marketing managers need to be aware that IOIS integration processes require support of top managers of the partnering organizations and should be embedded in the organizations' strategic goals.     

Metatheory of network management: A contingency perspective

This paper introduces a metatheoretical, contingency-based framework of inter-organizational network management. We define four basic network management functions and suggest that they are universal to all inter-organizational networks. We argue that management tasks, derived from more general management functions and contingent upon network characteristics, differ according to network type. We further argue that the roles that different actors in a network can adopt depend on their resources and capabilities. The framework contributes to the emerging theory of network management by clarifying the connections between its different conceptualizations and layers. A clear implication of the framework is that it is fundamentally useless to argue that networks cannot be managed. Networks are being managed, all of the time. However, we agree that the extent to which networks can be managed differs from one network to another along with the managerial tasks employed.     

Conceptualizing coopetition as a process: An outline of change in cooperative and competitive interactions

This study discusses how and why cooperative interactions between competitors change as their coopetitive relation develops over time. Such cooperative interactions are conceptualized to depend on the existence of agreements between competitors, or rules for cooperating and competing, which are formulated based on past experiences from mutual interaction. The purpose is to develop a framework which explains change in coopetitive interactions and particularly in inter-organizational rules for interaction. This framework distinguishes three mechanisms underlying change: inter-organizational learning manifested in cooperation between competitors, intra-organizational learning based on confrontations between conflicting experiences among organizational members, and the development of the external environment. Based on this generic framework, three scenarios are developed that delineate the nature of the change process in relations characterized respectively by strong competitive and cooperative dimensions, and in relations characterized by equal and moderately strong levels of cooperation and competition. These scenarios further suggest that rules for interaction change in a predefined or discontinuous manner depending on the balance and strength of the cooperative and competitive interactions.     

Temporal dynamics of trust in ongoing inter-organizational relationships

This paper reports the results of a qualitative study undertaken to understand the nature of trust and its consequences for both suppliers and buyers in short term (relatively new) and long term (older/more mature) relationships in inter-organizational contexts. Scholars have recently pointed out the importance of research that investigates the temporal characteristics and dynamics of trust in inter-organizational studies. Our paper responds to this call by indentifying the changing nature of the level of trust as the buyer–supplier relationship matures. Our findings contribute to sparse and conflicting previous research on the relationship between length of partnership and perceptions of trust, types of dark side consequences of trusting relationships, and reasons buyers and suppliers continue or terminate low/no-trust associations. Specifically, we illustrate that buyers and suppliers draw on substantially different metaphors for understanding the nature of trust in long and short term exchange relationships. Suppliers see marked differences in trust with long term versus short term exchange partners, while buyers see little or no difference. Suppliers and buyers also appear to have different conceptions of how trust is nested (or not) within the broader economic and/or personal relationship. Through our inductive model, we elaborate several types of betrayal and disappointment, distinguish several factors that lead suppliers and buyers to stay in relationships with partners they don't trust, and identify key issues that topple untrusting relationships into terminated relationships.     

Trust, power and transaction costs in B2B exchanges — A socio-economic approach

The advent of the Internet has enabled organisations to reconfigure their inter-organisational relationships. This study presents three frameworks to analyse the outcome that the use of Internet based electronic markets has on the nature of inter-organisational relationships: transaction cost economics, social exchange theory and an integrated framework that combines the first two. The integrated framework proposes that the nature of inter-organisational relationships depends on the interaction between the logic of transaction cost economics and the need for trust and interdependencies between exchange parties. A single case study is used to illustrate the way the three frameworks can be applied to analyse the use of electronic markets in inter-organisational exchanges. The study finds that the integrated framework provides a more complete understanding of inter-organisational relationships, and suggests a modular approach to the implementation of electronic marketplaces.     

Use of supplier-customer relationships by SMEs to enter foreign markets

Small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) that have gained experience in a supplier-customer relationship with multinational companies in the domestic market may be able to leverage that relationship to recruit new customers abroad. Is it possible to internationalize such supplier-customer relationships is the research question addressed in this paper. We tested five hypotheses, derived from the internationalization and interorganizational literature, using non-parametric tests and regression analysis with data provided by customers and suppliers in the computer industry. We discover that while customers initiate the first supplier-customer relationship, additional relationships, formed with the objective of internationalizing the firm are often initiated by SME itself, a new finding.     

Balancing between stability and variety: Identity and trust trade-offs in networks

Both stability and variety are necessary when developing business relationships in networks. This paper identifies a number of trade-offs and traps associated with trust and identity when balancing between stability and variety. It suggests that an organisation's identity is a stabilising resource, whereas network identification is an activity that may lead to increased variety. Trust is seen as being either passively or actively mobilised. In the former situation, the services rendered from the resource are stabilising due to established procedures and norms. In the latter case, trust is used to gain acceptance for variety by the extended freedom given to other actors.     

Enabling relationship structures and relationship performance improvement: The moderating role of relational capital

Based on data from 248 asymmetric subcontractor–customer relationships in Finland, this study analyzes the direct impact of relationship structures, relational capital, and the subcontractor's relationship-specific investments on the improvement of operational relationship performance. In addition, the study investigates the moderating role of relational capital on the links between relationship structures, relationship-specific investments, and relationship performance improvement. We found that both relational capital and relationship-specific investments directly affect the relationship performance improvement, while relationship structures do not. However, relational capital positively moderates the link between relationship structures and relationship performance improvement by creating enabling structures. Thus, our findings contribute to the existing literature and discussion on enabling organizational and relationship structures by demonstrating how relational capital changes the role and impact of relationship structures.     

房地产信托融资分析与研究

介绍房地产信托的基本概念,简要描述了其发展现状和其产品模式,指出了房地产信托的局限性及其风险,并提出了相应的对策建议,以供房地产信托融资参考。     

对我国发展房地产投资信托的思考

我国房地产正出于飞速发展时期，巨大的投资需要造成了庞大的融资需求，而近来房地产信贷门槛的提高导致房地产融资成本提高。房地产行业迫切需要银行外的融资渠道，以解决开发和经营的资金问题。从房地产投资信托定义和基本原则入手，将房地产投资信托与其他融资方式进行比较，分析其优势，探讨其运营模式，并提出相关建议。     

The many faces of trust and guanxi behavior: Evidence from marketing channels in China

This study examines how a trusting relationship influences firm boundary agents' guanxi behavior which involves saving face (wei hu mianzi), and affect investment (ganqing tou zi). At the individual level, we decompose trust into its competence and goodwill forms and examine their relative and interactive effects on guanxi behavior. A study conducted among 354 Chinese purchasing managers reveals that both competence trust and goodwill trust promote guanxi behavior, and these two types of character trust are substitutive for each other in terms of motivating the use of guanxi. At the firm level, calculative trust directly affects guanxi behavior and also negatively moderates the effect of competence trust on guanxi behavior. These results imply that calculative trust may substitute for competence trust in facilitating economic transactions and thereby reduce the use of guanxi in business interactions.     

The role of information technology in strategic buyer–supplier relationships

Information technology (IT) has long been acknowledged as an integral part of inter-organizational business exchange. The extant research, however, tends to emphasize the focal company perspective and focuses on operational issues, perceiving IT and business relationships as separable. Through a qualitative dyadic case study, our study defines how IT is positioned with regard to various elements of a strategic buyer–supplier relationship and the respective actors' operational and managerial behaviors. The study defines the role of IT regarding the structural, action, and management layers of a relationship and shows how IT can be a strong element around which relationship management activities are implemented to improve the consistency and performance of the relationship. The study prepares the ground for further qualitative and quantitative research to enhance a holistic understanding on IT in relation to the structures and processes in inter-organizational contexts of business relationships and networks.     

Managing knowledge leakage in strategic alliances: The effects of trust and formal contracts

Although strategic alliances offer opportunities for knowledge sharing and leveraging, they also carry the risk of knowledge leakage to partner firms. In this study, we conceptualize the notion of knowledge leakage as a multidimensional construct and formalize its measurement. We examine the effects of two dominant governance mechanisms—trust (goodwill trust and competence trust) and formal contracts on knowledge leakage. A survey of 205 partnering firms in China indicates that goodwill trust has a U-shaped relationship with knowledge leakage, whereas competence trust has a negative impact. Moreover, goodwill trust and competence trust interact differently with formal contracts on knowledge leakage. This study offers important theoretical and managerial insights for firms to manage knowledge leakage in strategic alliances.     

Trust as Networking Knowledge: Precedents from Australia

Trust, rather than being simply a resource for establishing collaborative relationships between organizations, is an essential component of their constitution. At base, trust involves interpersonal relations of a specific type. These are relations where there is sufficient probability that a person or organization with whom one is in contact will perform an action that is beneficial, or at least not detrimental, for one to consider engaging in some form of cooperation with this person or organization in the future. Trust establishes situations in which participants in collaboration have a long-term and recurrent relationship. Where trust exists, organizations are more willing to collaborate with other organizations on a more reciprocal basis. Trust is especially important when collaboration takes place between competitors because the risk of opportunistic behaviour is higher. Where organizations share resources and information openly with other participants they will seek to reduce opportunistic behaviour through the mutual understanding and goodwill of parties. However, trust is not static; it is a dynamic process that evolves according to the development of the relationship, as one in which the more long-term the relationship, the greater the trust. In this paper, we will present the impact of trust on business networks and examine how their members developed knowledge through networking.     

应用单摆原理进行流量测量的理论研究

容积式流量测量方法和速度式流量测量方法存在费用高,误差大的缺点.运用粘性流体力学理论,提出研制一种利用单摆原理计量流体流量的测量仪器,该仪器具有结构简单、安装方便等优点,易于开发成一种实时在线的流量计量仪器.     

构建中国房地产业的新型融资方式——房地产信托投资基金探析

2008年以采,中国房地产业面临着巨大的资金压力,急需建立多样化的融资渠道,因此房地产投资信耗基金的推出已经显得十分必要。文章在概述房地产信托基金内涵和特征的基础上,分析了我国目前房地产信托产品存在的主要问题,以及与房地产投资信托基金之间的差异,进而提出了发展我国房地产信托投资基金的主要措施。     

信任、声誉机制在虚拟企业治理中作用研究

结合虚拟企业的动态性和间续式结盟特点,探讨了信任、声誉机制在虚拟企业治理中作用。把信任区分为能力信任、善意信任、完整性信任。声誉机制和不同种类信任结合在虚拟企业各阶段作用不同。在虚拟企业构建期,能力信任是结盟合作的基础,声誉机制使得虚拟企业合作伙伴快速选择成为可能。在运行期,主要体现为善意信任的协调功能,声誉机制的稳定功能。在解体期,完整性信任和声誉结合发挥着重要作用。     

消费者视角下的虚拟社区信任研究

虚拟社区信任包含技术信任、制度信任和人际信任三个层次。虚拟社区信任对消费者的参与行为和商业行为产生直接影响。虚拟社区信任存在一个产生、保持和终止的动态演化过程。消费者对虚拟社区存在初始信任、持续信任和不信任等三种心理状态。在虚拟社区信任演化过程中,不同阶段的信任受到影响的因素各不相同。     

测量不确定度诠释

在《测量不确定度表达导则》(GUM)中所给出的定义是一个可操作性定义。然而,它与以下的定义从概念上说是一致的,即:由测量结果给出的被测量估计值中可能误差的量度;与测量结果一起表征被测量真值所处量值范围。