A review of factors influencing collaborative relationships

[EN] Collaboration is a term commonly used to refer to a type of inter-organizational relationship. However, in real business assessments, many collaborative relationships fail due to the lack of understanding of the factors influencing collaboration sustainability. For this reason, enterprises, prior to engage to a collaborative relationship, need to understand further which the main factors influencing collaboration relationships are, how they are structured and how they interact so that decision makers that desire to engage in a collaborative relationship/network focus not only on improving performance indicators but also on the factors that influence the results of those performance indicators. The purpose of this paper is to present a critical literature review of factors influencing collaborative relationships in order to perform a comparative study of the works for identifying main strengths and gaps for future research.Verdecho Sáez, MJ.; Alfaro Saiz, JJ.; Rodríguez Rodríguez, R. (2011). A review of factors influencing collaborative relationships. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology. 362:535-542. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-23330-2_58S535542362Camarinha-Matos, L.M., Afsarmanesh, H., Galeano, N., Molina, A.: Collaborative networked organizations - Concepts and practice in manufacturing enterprises. Computers & Industrial Engineering 57, 46–60 (2009)Simatupang, T.M., Wright, A.C., Sridharan, R.: Applying the theory of constraints to supply chain collaboration. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal 9(1), 57–70 (2004)Sabath, R.E., Fontanella, J.: The Unfulfilled Promise of Supply Chain Collaboration. 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Innovation and business performance - a provisional multi-regional analysis

Although much attention has focussed on the determinants of firms' innovation performance, the relationship between innovation and business performance is less well defined. In this paper we use data from identical plant level surveys conducted in six regions of the UK, Germany and Ireland to examine this relationship and identify some of the implications for regional innovation initiatives. The survey data used was collected by postal survey during 1999 and 2000. In all over 2000 plants responded to the surveys which provide regionally representative information about innovation activity, IT adoption and a number of indicators of business performance. Four main indicators of business performance are examined here: sales and employment growth, export performance, profitability and productivity (value added per employee). The analysis is based on a simultaneous econometric model explaining plants' innovation activity and business performance. Discussion focuses on a number of key themes. First, core-periphery differences are explored by contrasting analytical results for peripheral (Northern Ireland, Scotland) and 'core' regions (Bavaria, Baden-Wurttemberg) within the sample. Second, attention is focussed on the performance effects of firms, different innovation profiles relating to product and process development but also radical and more incremental innovation activity. Thirdly, contrasts between small and larger businesses are considered and the sensitivity of firms, innovation and performance to their operating environment is explored. The paper concludes with an assessment of the implications of the analysis for regional innovation initiatives and their potential impact on business development.

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Entrepreneurs'' attitude towards the computer and its effect on e-business adoption

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