External Factors Influencing Interorganizational Collaboration: The Strategic Perspective

Purpose: The main purpose of this paper is to present the phenomenon of interorganizational collaboration from the strategic perspective, as a complex phenomenon, infl uenced by environmental factors, such as institutions � both formal and informal. Additional aims of the paper are: to present a model including all signifi cant elements and identifying important research gaps.Methodology: The paper presents the results of literature analyses as well as the fi ndings of the latest research studies in the fi eld of interorganizational collaboration, taking into account the environment of the organization.Conclusions: The external environment of the organization, in particular socio-cultural factors, has a significant impact on the formation, development, evolution and management of interorganizational collaboration. There are still many research gaps in this fi eld, and some of them have been presented in this paper.Research limitations: This paper is a theoretical and conceptual study. It forms an introduction to further empirical research.Originality: The paper presents the phenomenon of interorganizational collaboration in a broader context, taking into account the external environment as an element infl uencing such collaboration. Most of the works in this fi eld focus on organizations managing or coping with the environment. This paper presents a different approach. It indicates the external factors that infl uence interorganizational collaboration from a strategic perspective, and subsequently presents them in the form of a model

Interorganizational Relationships Climate And Interorganizational Information Systems Success; A Supply Chain Perspective

During the last two decades, an increasing amount of attention has been paid by practitioners as well as academics to Interorganizational Information Systems (IOSs) design, deployment and use within supply chains. However, our understanding of the main factors that affect IOSs use and success is hardly complete. Through brief review of coordination mechanisms theory and its related theory such as transaction cost theory (TCT) and Resource Based View (RBV), the paper generates theoretical propositions and attempt to conceptualize a theoretical model which map the role of Interorganizational relationships (IORs) climate attributes in linking IOSs technology and supply success. The theoretical model encompasses two major causal relations: (1) a direct relation linking IOS use with Supply chain performance (IOS success) and (2) a moderating relation linking IOS success with IORs attributes. Else more, the paper attributes to IORs success climate a set of constructs drawn from the literature review, namely; interorganizational cooperation/ interorganizational coordination, interorganizational trust, interorganizational commitment, and interorganizational dependence

Collaborative R&D project partner experience in the Australian CRC Program : a theoretical framework

The paper focuses on commercially-oriented cross-sector R&amp;D collaborative projects carried out within Australian Cooperative Research Centres. A theoretical model is proposed to explain the participants&rsquo; experience of such collaborative projects, and the relationship between partner experience and project outcomes. It is hypothesized that collaborative projects that have both a strong relationship focus, in terms relational trust, and a strong task focus, in terms of project management capability, are more likely to be positively experienced by the participants. Four antecedent variables, derived from the literature and preliminary research, are proposed: credible commitments, previous collaboration experience, cross-sector management capability, and communication intensity. The model is to be empirically tested through a survey of CRC project leaders.<br /

Exchange hazards, relational reliability, and contracts in China: The contingent role of legal enforceability

Building on institutional and transaction cost economics, this article proposes that legal enforceability increases the use of contract over relational reliability (e.g., beliefs that the other party acts in a non-opportunistic manner) to safeguard market exchanges characterized by non-trivial hazards. The results of 399 buyer-supplier exchanges in China show that: (1) when managers perceive that the legal system can protect their firm's interests, they tend to use explicit contracts rather than relational reliability to safeguard transactions involving risks (i.e., asset specificity, environmental uncertainty, and behavioral uncertainty); and (2) when managers do not perceive the legal system as credible, they are less likely to use contracts, and instead rely on relational reliability to safeguard transactions associated with specialized assets and environmental uncertainty, but not those involving behavioral uncertainty. We further find that legal enforceability does not moderate the effect of relational reliability on contracts, but does weaken the effect of contracts on relational reliability. These results endorse the importance of prior experience (e.g., relational reliability) in supporting the use of explicit contracts, and alternatively suggest that, under conditions of greater legal enforceability, the contract signals less regarding one's intention to be trustworthy but more about the efficacy of sanctions. © 2010 Academy of International Business All rights reserved.postprin

Getting on the E List: E-Mail Use in a Community of Service Provider

This case examines how a community of organizations providing service to people experiencing homelessness made use of an electronic mail list. Current economic conditions have encouraged organizations in various sectors—including nonprofits—that might normally compete for scarce resources to collaborate with one another to increase their chances of survival. One set of tools likely to be of value in such relationships includes various online discussion technologies. An examination of this community’s email list use over a three-year period suggests a somewhat complex picture regarding technology use. More specifically, some issues both constrain and enable use. Additionally, seemingly basic and minimal uses of the list provided not only the greatest functionality for the users, but also led to several unanticipated consequences for those involved

Electricity Governance and the Western Energy Imbalance Market in the United States: The Necessity of Interorganizational Collaboration

In the Western United States, widespread growth of wind and solar resources is putting pressure on state policy makers, electricity system operators, and utilities to integrate renewable resources into the grid, while maintaining reliability, affordability, and improving efficiency. These resources are creating new challenges because their variability can contribute to transmission constraints and system imbalances. This paper examines a recent initiative to make energy imbalance market services available throughout the Western Interconnection and provides insight into evolving electricity system governance. Drawing on boundary organization and interorganizational collaboration literature, this research explores the processes and practices used to create a new interorganizational collaboration. The research supports theoretical claims that facilitating policy innovation requires discursive formation of a collective identity

Behind the Scenes of Technology Entrepreneurship in Kenya: A Rich Microcosm for Contextualizing and Advancing Global Organization Studies

Technology entrepreneurship is on the rise around the world. In the quest for change, comparative advantage, innovation creation and socioeconomic progress, a turn to entrepreneurial solutions to persistent developmental challenges has provided a powerful and captivating alternative to past solution approaches. As a consequence, innovation clusters have mushroomed, and an enthusiasm for entrepreneurial activity has caught the attention of many in localities as diverse as Kenya’s Silicon Savannah, Nigeria’s Yabacoon Valley, South Africa’s Silicon Cape, Chile’s Chilecon Valley and Germany’s Silicon Allee, to mention just a few. Yet despite this new, vibrant entrepreneurial activity that continuous to nourish a global wave of excitement, we know little about how technology entrepreneurship is actually performed in these disparate places. This doctoral thesis sought to fill this gap by taking a look “behind the scenes” of one of the most prominent innovation clusters in Africa — Kenya’s information and communications technology (ICT) sector. In this empirical setting, industry participants were in the midst of actively negotiating and rationalizing how technology entrepreneurship needs to work to make it a success, to unlock the benefits of a knowledge economy for Kenya and to carve out a space in the global innovation landscape for innovations made in Africa. Three interconnected academic papers form the core of this thesis. The first paper provides a detailed illustration of the local and global prescriptions that influence entrepreneurial action in Kenya’s ICT sector and inspired the conceptualization of a dynamic process model of globalization. The second paper offers a fine-grained view into the work realities of Kenyans and the generation of the multidimensional work portfolios across which workers diversify their activities to achieve economic survival, create wealth and exert agency for change. The third paper is a theoretical piece that theorizes the process of nonnative organizational forms diffusing and becoming adopted in new organizational environments. All in all, the thesis can be seen as an attempt to study the complexities that reign in African economies through an organizational lens and thus to foster a global organizational scholarship research agenda and discourse that can be of benefit to the many rather than just the few

Internationalization process based on the integration in a network: the case of Alô Comunicação

Networking is becoming a widely accepted strategy that most companies incorporate into their internal operations. Most like products, services can also benefit from this method, relying on partnerships and relationships within the International Market. The Internationalization plan for Alô Comunicação is based on the premise that the Domestic Market is saturated, with internal pressures “forcing” companies to consider the International Markets. Besides, potential Market opportunities could be lost if the Company concentrates its efforts only within the Portuguese Creative Sector. Considering this specific sector, an analysis was conducted in order to perceive the results within the international sphere. In the latest years, this activity is showing an increase in the number of exports and the relevance to the national wealth, numbers that demonstrate the potential of this sector. The qualitative interviews conducted to four representative companies of the Creative Sector showed that the conditions are concomitant with the data collected. Moreover, they show the importance of strategies that privileged network patterns. By using the Uppsala Model as a reference, this investigation provided a correlation between Networking and Internationalization, specifically to the Portuguese Creative Sector. Following this study, the results gathered were applied to the Alô Comunicação plan for Internationalization. This recent Company will initially privilege the export to Spain, taking advantage of its proximity. In a medium-long term, the Company will focus on consolidating its position in the Spanish Market, and afterwards alliance networks will be celebrated with other foreign Markets.O plano de internacionalização da Alô Comunicação é baseado na premissa de que o mercado interno encontra-se saturado, enquanto as pressões internas “forçam” as empresas a considerar os mercados internacionais. Além disso, potenciais oportunidades de mercado podem ser perdidas se a empresa concentrar apenas seus esforços no setor criativo português. Enquadrando este setor específico, foi realizada uma análise, a fim de se perceber os resultados do setor na esfera internacional. Nos últimos anos, a atividade mostra um aumento do número de exportações e importância para a riqueza nacional portuguesa, números que demonstram o potencial deste setor. As entrevistas qualitativas realizadas a quatro empresas representativas do Setor Criativo mostraram que as condições são concomitantes com os dados coletados. Além disso, eles mostram a importância de estratégias que privilegiam os padrões de rede. Utilizando o Modelo Uppsala como referência, a investigação pretende demostrar a correlação entre Networking e Internacionalização, especificamente para o Setor Criativo Português. Na sequência deste estudo, os resultados recolhidos foram utilizados no caso Alô Comunicação, uma empresa recente em que, inicialmente, o plano de internacionalização privilegiará a exportação para Espanha, aproveitando sobretudo a proximidade geográfica. A médio e longo prazo, o objetivo passa pelo foco na consolidação da sua posição no mercado espanhol e no estabelecimento de alianças que possam potenciar o alargamento para outros mercados internacionais, tendo o mercado espanhol como base desse processo de internacionalização