Interorganizational Partnering Research Articles

Inter-Organizational Partnering Strategies in Disaster Response: A Complex Network Perspective

Establishing appropriate inter-organizational partnership in disaster response is of great help to the improvement of disaster relief performance. However, the selection of proper disaster response organizations for government agencies to build partnerships among the numerous relief organizations remains to be addressed. To fill the gap, this paper adopted a complex network modeling method to explain the formation mechanism of inter-organizational partnership in disaster response. Then, based on a numerical simulation method, the paper compared different inter-organizational partnering strategies, and explored the optimal inter-organizational partnering strategy in the disaster response process. Results demonstrate that the optimal partnering strategy is contingent on disaster response conditions, with accurate disaster information and abundant relief materials to choose the material difference principle, and vague disaster information to choose the organizational influence principle. At the same time, frequent information communication and material cooperation allocation can be transformed into low-frequency information communication and government-led material allocation. This study provides practical guidance for disaster relief organizations to choose inter-organizational partnering strategies, and enriches the disaster organization management theory.

Leveraging diverse ecosystem partners for innovation: the roles of regional innovation environment and partnership heterogeneity

Although prior studies investigated the influence of partner diversity on focal firms’ innovation performance, they failed to consider partners’ ecosystem positions and the roles of regional innovation environment and partnership heterogeneity. To fill these gaps, this study examines the relationship between supplier diversity, customer diversity, regional innovation environment, partnership heterogeneity and innovation performance to provide a comprehensive and throughout understanding of the influence of partner diversity on innovation performance. Based on data of 188 Chinese manufacturing firms, this article finds that both diversities of upstream suppliers and that of downstream customers contribute to innovation performance. Regional innovation environment and partnership heterogeneity moderate the influences of supplier diversity and customer diversity on innovation performance. In a favourable regional innovation environment, the benefits of diverse upstream suppliers for innovation are eroded, while the benefits of diverse downstream customers for innovation are enhanced. Partnership heterogeneity with suppliers can mitigate the moderating effect of regional innovation environment on the relationship between supplier diversity and innovation performance. These findings advance the literature on partner diversity and innovation performance, thus providing fine-grained managerial implications to firms to orchestrate diverse inter-organizational partners for innovation.

A College of Nursing's Upward Spiral During a Global Pandemic.

In March 2020, COVID-19 forced institutions of higher education, faculty, staff, and students to transition to emergency remote learning. This unprecedented time provided the opportunity to reenvision the delivery of nursing education and operation of the college of nursing, using the principles of the four Cs of interorganizational partnering as a guide supported by positive organizational scholarship. The Villanova University Fitzpatrick College of Nursing designed and implemented strategies to provide seamless learning opportunities for students in undergraduate and graduate nursing programs, while providing necessary support and future planning for the upcoming academic year. Online and virtual learning platforms integrated into curricula assisted students to meet course objectives and program outcomes. Strategies for effective communication, collegiality, and collaboration within and among the college, university, and nursing community served as mechanism for innovation. Communication, cooperation, coordination, and collaboration, along with positive organizational strategizing and support contributed to a successful transition during the COVID-19 pandemic; many of the approaches implemented during the emergency transition will continue into the future.[J Nurs Educ. 2020;59(12):675-682.].

An assessment of the reliability and accessibility of an Airport Transit Network at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport: A case study on UBE Express

In the Philippines, the worsening traffic condition urged passengers arriving at the Ninoy Aquino Interna tional Airport (NAJA) to utilize taxis or transport network vehicles (TNVs) to reach their destinations despite the expensive rates. The study aimed to determine the reliability and accessibility level of UBE Express as an airport transit network. In this study, a mixed method design was used, while Likert-scale based survey questionnaires and structured interview guides were used to gather information from 100 Filipino respondent-passengers, Ai1freight 21, Inc. and inter-organizational partners respectively. The data were statistically treated using count analysis, weighted mean, and Spearman rank correlation. Based on the respondents’ assessment, UBE Express’ comfortable seats and people with disability (PWD) and senior citizen friendly features were regarded as most important components. Conversely, on-board emergency and weather information as well as different payment modes appeared to be the least important features. The study findings revealed that there was a significant relationship between reliability and accessibility. In conclusion, UBE Express is perceived to be a reliable and accessible airport transit network that can alleviate the traffic congestion in the metro.

Interorganizational cooperation and process innovation

Purpose In this paper, the authors investigate whether the location of interorganizational partners affects the outcomes of process innovation. Herein, the term partner location refers to multiple degrees of proximity or distance, including in the same national province or state, in other national provinces or states, in the same country and in foreign countries. The purpose of this paper is to show that partner location, whether domestic or foreign, depends on which partner an organization needs in order to advance its process innovation. Design/methodology/approach To test the hypotheses, the authors employed a panel data regression model to analyze data from 28 Brazilian business sectors from 2003 to 2014, all collected for PINTEC: The Brazilian Survey of Technological Innovation, representing a total of 107,854 companies. Findings The results show that cooperation is significant with both national and foreign partners, even though they bear different effects on the various degrees of innovativeness related to process innovation. Practical implications For managerial practice, the results corroborate that the choice of partners has to be strategic and take their location into account. In particular, practices at the domestic level with suppliers and vocational training centers are relevant to increasing innovation at the micro level. At the same time, for higher levels of innovation, managers should prioritize, within the limitations of existing resources, cooperation with universities, competitors and suppliers from abroad, especially in developed countries. Originality/value The main academic contribution of the study is the highlighting partner location (i.e. proximate or distant) as relevant to results of process innovation. Nevertheless, the authors determined that this process is heterogeneous, given the function of each partner and taking the different degrees of innovativeness into account.

Uncertainty Versus Learning: A Network Appraoch for Corporate Strategic Partner Selection

Uncertainty and learning play important twin roles in interorganizational partner selection decisions. Research reveals that companies try to reduce uncertainty by engaging in repeated ties with partners who are familiar, who are tied to common third partners, who are similar along relevant strategic or organizational dimensions, or with partners controlling complementary resources. Because organizations learn from their own experience and from the experience of their partners, one way to understand global network structures is to analyze how uncertainty and learning jointly affect the propensity of individual organizations to build local network ties. This paper combines theory and empirical evidence to develop an analytical framework examining the dynamic relationship between uncertainty, organizational learning, and the formation of interorganizational network ties. I report clear evidence that organizational uncertainty increases the likelihood that companies will engage in corporate acquisition activities. I also find that organizational learning and past experience play important roles in acquisition partners? selection, i.e., the greater the cumulative number of acquisition events in which a company has been involved in previously, the higher the likelihood that it will engage in further acquisition events in the future. Finally, I demonstrate that an organization?s past experience in corporate acquisitions affects its choice of network partner.

Horizontal competition and interorganizational exchange partner selection: An analysis of Major League Baseball player trades

This study examines the influence of horizontal competition on interorganizational exchange. Interorganizational competition is a multidimensional construct that can influence exchange in multiple, sometimes countervailing ways. With an analysis of Major League Baseball player trades, we examine the influences of three components of competition—goal conflict, rivalry, and competitive interaction—on interorganizational exchange partner selection. We find that goal conflict reduces the hazard rate of exchange between organizations, but competitive interaction increases it. Moreover, we find evidence that prior exchange moderates the competition–exchange relationship by reducing the perceived risks and information benefits of exchange with a competitor. We do not find evidence that interorganizational rivalry shapes subsequent exchange behavior.

A associação baseada em coopetição nas redes interorganizacionais do turismo: uma comparação entre Curitiba e Foz do Iguaçu, Brasil

Purpose – This paper presents a model to analyze the context and critical behavior of interorganizational partnering based on the coopetition strategy. Design/methodology/approach – This research is exploratory, and makes use of descriptive statistical methodology. Data collection was based on an entrepreneurial perception survey applied to 545 tourism firms and 49 local business associations in two Brazilian cities. Findings – The main theoretical approach of this research was to introduce a partnering model, and its variables, based on coopetition – whereas its main empirical finding was to prove that the high internal competition among participants, within the tourism sector, is a greater source of coopetition behavior than external competition itself. Shared values, mutual trust, complementarity and awareness of the competitive advantages that result from partnering co-exist with the internal competition between firms belonging to this sector. Originality/value – Coopetition in the tourism sector has been little explored, but this study confirms that coopetition is a hybrid behavior which is very suitable to explain current market relationships; it also represents the interorganizational networks generated by business associations. The value of this research was to provide a scale to measure cooperative and competitive contexts on partnering based on the coopetition strategy, which can be applied to other industries or sectors.

Knowledge Acquisition in Production Networks: Effective Strategies for System Integrators and Component Specialists

ABSTRACTThis study provides new insight into the effectiveness of different knowledge acquisition strategies for organizations at different positions in a production network. Component specialists and systems integrators require a different knowledge repertoire in terms of knowledge depth and knowledge breadth. We show that a greater reliance on inter-organizational partnering than on intra-organizational acquiring is effective in the acquisition of knowledge breadth rather than knowledge depth. And the positive effect of a greater reliance on inter-organizational partnering on knowledge breadth is particularly strong for system integrators.

Lessons from Resource Dependence Theory for Contemporary Public and Nonprofit Management

The fiscal landscape continues to challenge public and nonprofit managers. Against this backdrop, public and nonprofit managers look for new strategies to address the challenges associated with limited resources. Resource dependence theory provides valuable guidance for managers who want to understand the considerations and consequences relevant to different types of interorganizational partnering. In this article, the theory's core ideas are described, along with three common strategies or tactics that organizations use to obtain critical resources from the environment: merging, forming alliances, and co‐opting. For each strategy, the authors derive a set of practical lessons for busy public and nonprofit managers.

Risk Assessment and Transaction Cost Incorporated Budgeting for Construction Joint Ventures

Proper budgeting and cost control are essential efforts for a successful project. The task has been conventionally supported by sophisticated project cost estimation from a production perspective. However, from a transaction cost perspective, the alliance risks with inter-organizational partners in joint venture (JV) projects should always be considered for budgeting. Aiming to assess the risks of a JV project, this paper proposes a transaction cost incorporated budgeting model with multi-criteria utility analysis. A case study is presented to demonstrate the applications of the proposed model which would help project managers to identify a proper risk contingency for practical project budgeting in construction JVs. The rationale of estimating the alliance risks with different partners is also enhanced by the proposed model.

Enterprise Systems Outsourcing “Behind the Curtain”

Outsourcing is now a feasible means for enterprise systems (ES) cost savings, but does however increase the complexity of coordination substantially when many organizations are involved. We set out to study ES outsourcing in a large Scandinavian high-tech organization, SCANDI, a case setting with many inter-organizational partners, trying to answer the question: Why does SCANDI engage in these very complex outsourcing arrangements? To answer this question we have analyzed documents, observed meetings and gathered data from interviews in four parts of SCANDI. The first data analysis found just the rational front stage cost-saving explanation; but then, with a more careful analysis focusing on institutional factors, other backstage explanations “behind the curtain” were uncovered, such as management consultants with a “best practice” agenda, people promoting outsourcing, thereby being promoted themselves, and a belief in outsourcing as a “silver bullet”: a recipe to success, solving everything

When Does Partnering Create Market Value?

The dramatic increase in interorganizational partnering in the last two decades raises questions regarding the value impact of alliances. Using event study methodology, this paper tests whether stock market reactions differ when an alliance formation or termination is announced. In addition, it provides an in-depth analysis of potential determinants of stock market reactions. The results show that transaction cost theory and signaling theory in tandem provide predictive power explaining the effects of formation and termination announcements. However, the theories propose contradicting effects regarding the impact of firm and alliance characteristics on the value mark-up.

Absorptive capacity configurations in supply chains

The need for continual value innovation is driving supply chains to evolve from a pure transactional focus to leveraging interorganizational partner ships for sharing information and, ultimately, m...

Absorptive Capacity Configurations in Supply Chains: Gearing for Partner-Enabled Market Knowledge Creation

The need for continual value innovation is driving supply chains to evolve from a pure transactional focus to leveraging interorganizational partner ships for sharing information and, ultimately, market knowledge creation. Supply chain partners are (1) engaging in interlinked processes that enable rich (broad-ranging, high quality, and privileged) information sharing, and (2) building information technology infrastructures that allow them to process information obtained from their partners to create new knowledge. This study uncovers and examines the variety of supply chain partnership configurations that exist based on differences in capability platforms, reflecting varying processes and information systems. We use the absorptive capacity lens to build a conceptual framework that links these configurations with partner-enabled market knowledge creation. Absorptive capacity refers to the set of organizational routines and processes by which organizations acquire, assimilate, transform, and exploit knowledge to produce dynamic organizational capabilities. Through an exploratory field study conducted in the context of the RosettaNet consortium effort in the IT industry supply chain, we use cluster analysis to uncover and characterize five supply chain partnership configurations (collectors, connectors, crunchers, coercers, and collaborators). We compare their partner-enabled knowledge creation and operational efficiency, as well as the shortcomings in their capability platforms and the nature of information exchange. Through the characterization of each of the configurations, we are able to derive research propositions focused on enterprise absorptive capacity elements. These propositions provide insight into how partner-enabled market knowledge creation and operational efficiency can be affected, and highlight the interconnected roles of coordination information and rich information. The paper concludes by drawing implications for research and practice from the uncovering of these configurations and the resultant research propositions. It also highlights fertile opportunities for advances in research on knowledge management through the study of supply chain contexts and other interorganizational partnering arrangements.

DANCING WITH STRANGERS: ASPIRATION PERFORMANCE AND THE SEARCH FOR UNDERWRITING SYNDICATE PARTNERS.

This article discusses a study which is motivated by the observation that inter-organizational partner selection research and learning theory share a common emphasis on uncertainty and risk. Uncertainty and risk reduction is the principal rationale offered to explain organizations' preference for their past partners and their partners' partners when forming new collaborations. By concentrating on uncertainty and risk reduction as an underlying logic, however, partner selection research does not help specify the conditions under which organizations' decisionmakers are willing to take on the uncertainty and risk of unfamiliar partners. The researchers employ performance feedback models to specify conditions under which organizations' decisionmakers are more or less likely to forego the certainty of the status quo to pursue risky change. These models suggest that performance gaps relative to aspirations may prompt organizational decision makers to accept the uncertainty and risk of partnering with strangers from beyond their local networks. The researchers' analysis of partner selection among Canadian investment banks shows a clear sensitivity to historical and relative performance feedback.

Does Partnering Pay Off? - Stock Market Reactions to Strategic Alliance Announcements in Germany

The dramatic increase in interorganizational partnering in the last 15 years raises questions for scholars and managers regarding the value impact of strategic alliances. Using event study methodology, this paper tests whether stock market reactions differ when an alliance formation or termination is announced. In addition, the study provides an in-depth analysis of potential determinants of stock market reactions to alliance formation announcements. The sample consists of 1037 announcements in German stock markets from 1997 to 2002. The results show that a termination announcement decreases firm valuation, and a formation announcement increases firm valuation. Further, certain alliances are more favorable than others, depending on firm industry, age, size, alliance constellations, and equity versus non-equity investment in partner firm. The results open avenues for further research on partnering strategies.

Death for a Terrorist: Media Coverage of the McVeigh Execution as a Case Study in Interorganizational Partnering between the Public and Private Sectors

In June 2001, the Federal Bureau of Prisons helped to carry out the execution of Timothy McVeigh for his role in the infamous 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. The intense national and international media attention that the execution received was virtually unprecedented in the bureau's history, and it put the bureau in the difficult position of having to carry out two potentially conflicting responsibilities: facilitating coverage of the execution by hundreds of reporters, producers, and technicians, while maintaining the safety and security of the maximum security penitentiary in which the execution was held. Historically, the Bureau of Prisons has preferred to maintain a low media profile and had no experience managing a large‐scale media event. This article examines how the bureau met this challenge by forming a partnership with the news media through the creation of a Media Advisory Group. It analyzes the goals, functions, and achievements of the Media Advisory Group by employing the Dawes model of interorganizational relationships.

Inertia and Evaluation Mechanisms in Interorganizational Partner Selection: Syndicate Formation among U.S. Investment Banks

Inertia and Evaluation Mechanisms in Interorganizational Partner Selection: Syndicate Formation among U.S. Investment Banks

Developing effective intercultural relationships: The importance of communication strategies

AbstractAs global competition intensifies, it is becoming necessary for organizations to establish strong intercultural relationships with a culturally diverse set of employees, interorganizational partners as well as customers. In order to manage these relationships effectively, organizations need a means to understand and improve global intercultural communications. The complexity of intercultural communications requires management to understand the nature of domains of global relationships and the level of complexity when attempting to communicate with multiple partners having unique national and organizational cultures. In this article, a decision process for developing effective intercultural communication strategies is developed, illustrating the steps necessary for managing a myriad of intercultural relationships. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.