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For a long time, researchers have stressed the importance of identity for collaborative supply relationships. Accordingly, it has been proposed that supply relationships may be efficiently managed by establishing a shared collective identity among partners. However, this strategy may challenge the partners' individual distinctiveness and thus lead to adversarial relationship outcomes. In this article, it is argued how and when establishing an intergroup relational identity may be a better choice than building a collective identity.

The conceptual research is based on an analysis of previous literature. Relational identity theorizing and the theory of intergroup leadership are applied to build on and extend previous views on identity in interorganizational contexts.

It is proposed that when supply chain actors are subject to identity threats in collaborative supply relationships, such threats are driven by the imbalance of power between or among the parties. Therefore, establishing an intergroup relational identity should be preferred over a collective identity in situations characterized by a high identity threat.

Future studies could support this article's theoretical suggestions with empirical evidence.

Intergroup relational identity preserves the distinctiveness of all parties involved in a collaborative relationship and is based on their individual contributions. Managers could support a collaborative environment and promote a shared vision between or among organizations through appropriate rhetoric.

This study contributes to an understanding of the relational aspects of interorganizational behavior by adapting social psychological theories to this area of research.

This paper aims to explore the role and meaning of openness for the purpose of enhancing the understanding of collaborative innovation from an industrial network perspective.

The theoretical framework is based on the Industrial Network Approach, and the concepts of activity links, resource ties and actor bonds are used as a starting point for capturing the content and dynamics of the interaction. The empirical part consists of five case studies: two historical and three contemporary cases dealing with collaborative innovation projects. The cases are analyzed with regard to openness in business relationships and their connections in the network.

The main contribution is a conceptualization of openness in business relationships and relationship connections. The paper describes various forms and contents of openness – and closeness. It is postulated that the concept of openness can be used as an analytical tool for digging deeper into relationship and network-related issues of relevance to firms’ behavior in the context of collaborative innovation. Openness, as it is defined in this paper, is also put forward as an explanation of why (or why not) collaborative innovation projects become successful.

The conceptualization of openness differs from openness as it is commonly described in the open innovation literature. There, openness is the opposite of closeness, that is, a pattern where the innovation activities take place internally within the company. In this paper, openness, instead, has to do with how firms interact with other network actors in the context of collaborative innovation.

This paper assumes necessity rather than sufficiency logic to model the relationship between collaborative culture and supply chain collaboration as triangular rather than linear. Specifically, this study aims to determine whether overall collaborative culture and its dimensions (i.e. collectivism, long-term orientation, power symmetry and uncertainty avoidance) are necessary for supply chain collaboration and the minimum levels of overall collaborative culture and its dimensions that are required for high levels of supply chain collaboration.

Based on the literature, collaborative culture and its four dimensions, namely, collectivism, long-term orientation, power symmetry and uncertainty avoidance, were modelled as conditions having supply chain collaboration as their outcome. The study used the necessary condition analysis to test the triangular relationships between the conditions and the outcome among a sample of firms (N = 166) in the downstream petroleum sector.

The results revealed that collaborative culture and its dimensions are necessary conditions for supply chain collaboration, and that high levels of collaboration are possible, although not guaranteed when at least a basic level of collaborative culture or its dimensions are present. Hence, different levels of supply chain collaboration require firms to have different levels of collectivism, long-term orientation, power symmetry and uncertainty avoidance. Thus, at 30% supply chain collaboration, only overall collaborative culture is necessary.

A significant limitation of this research is that, although several antecedents of supply chain collaboration exist, this study explored only the cultural antecedents of supply chain collaboration.

The dimensions of collaborative culture are necessary but not sufficient for supply chain collaboration. Therefore, managers should adopt a holistic approach to investment in a collaborative culture, as an over-investment in any of the dimensions may not compensate for an under-investment in the others.

As one of the first studies to use necessity rather than sufficiency logic to test the relationship between collaborative culture and supply chain collaboration, this research unearthed the non-linear (triangular) relationship between the constructs. It contributes to understanding how collaborative culture and its dimensions serve as bottleneck conditions constraining supply chain collaboration.

This paper aims to investigate how supply chain risks can be identified in both collaborative and adversarial buyer–supplier relationships (BSRs).

This research includes a multiple-case study involving ten Chinese manufacturers with two informants per organisation. Data have been interpreted from a multi-level social capital perspective (i.e. from both an individual and organisational level), supplemented by signalling theory.

Buyers use different risk identification strategies or apply the same strategy in different ways according to the BSR type. The impact of organisational social capital on risk identification is contingent upon the degree to which individual social capital is deployed in a way that benefits an individual’s own agenda versus that of the organisation. Signalling theory generally complements social capital theory and helps further understand how buyers can identify risks, especially in adversarial BSRs, e.g. by using indirect signals from suppliers or other supply chain actors to “read between the lines” and anticipate risks.

Data collection is focussed on China and is from the buyer side only. Future research could explore other contexts and include the supplier perspective.

The types of relationships that are developed by buyers with their supply chain partners at an organisational and an individual level have implications for risk exposure and how risks can be identified. The multi-level analysis highlights how strategies such as employee rotation and retention can be deployed to support risk identification.

Much of the extant literature on supply chain risk management is focussed on risk mitigation, whereas risk identification is under-represented. A unique case-based insight is provided into risk identification in different types of BSRs by using a multi-level social capital approach complemented by signalling theory.

Collaboration has been referred to as the driving force behind effective supply chain management and may be the ultimate core capability. However, there is a fairly widespread belief that few firms have truly capitalized on its potential. A study was undertaken to assess the current level of supply chain collaboration and identify best practice.

Supply chain executives provided insights into collaboration. Survey data, personal interviews, and a review of the collaboration literature were used to develop a conceptual model profiling behavior, culture, and relational interactions associated with successful collaboration.

Positive collaboration‐related outcomes include enhancements to efficiency, effectiveness, and market positions for the respondents' firms.

The small sample size represents a limitation, but is balanced by the quality of the respondent base and their expertise/experience. Another limitation involves securing input from only one party to the collaborative relationships. Developing a longitudinal study would help determine how collaboration‐related factors and relationships change over time.

Several respondents mentioned a “blurring of lines” between organizations contrasted to an “us vs them” approach. This was expressed in a number of different ways – treating the arrangements as if they both were part of the same operation, treating them as co‐owned, and employing a new focus on the best common solution. Many of the respondents indicating rewards are not distributed evenly still admitted they get enough “out of” the collaborative arrangements to make it worthwhile.

Real‐world practical experiences are recounted involving many of today's top companies.

Team integration is a concept that has been widely fostered in alliances as a way of improving collaborative relationships between diverse organisations. However, deeper insights into the practice of high levels of team integration remain elusive. The purpose of this paper is to develop a deeper understanding of team integration through the “lived experience” of practitioners in an alliance.

This study employed a qualitative research methodology. Using a phenomenological examination, via the lived experiences of 24 alliance practitioners, the practice of alliance team integration has been investigated based on the key indicators that foster alliance team integration: team leadership, trust and respect, single team focus on project objectives and key results areas, collective understanding, commitment from project alliance board, single and co-located alliance team, and free flow communication.

The findings highlight that alliancing gives the project teams’ flexibility to change and adapt, to advance the collaborative environment and that successful integration of multi-disciplinary project teams requires commitment to the identified indicators. These findings have led to the development of a framework of leadership for successful alliance integrated practices. It is proposed that to influence the leadership for the purpose of achieving successful integration practice, a team-centric approach is required which includes four elements: task and relationship-oriented behaviours; collaborative learning environments; cultivating cross-boundary networks; and collaborative governance.

As team integration is the central tenet of alliance projects, greater understanding regarding the leadership of integration practice is of value in leveraging the benefits of outstanding performance. Also, the results of the study are expected to be informative and provide insight for alliance teams to help them proactively recognise how the context of integrated teams is influenced by specific indicators, impacting on the extent of integration practice.

This study contributes to the current body of knowledge concerning the insights from the “lived experience” of alliance teams towards achieving a greater understanding of what contributes to the leadership of successful integration practices.

Drawing on the resource‐based view of the firm and the dynamic capabilities perspective, this paper sets out to argue that salespeople's selling skills and their inter‐ and intra‐unit collaborative skills are valuable, rare, socially complex, and inimitable knowledge‐based resources embedded in the human and social capital of field sales units (FSUs). Salespeople's selling and collaborative skills, both directly and interactively, should help field sales units generate greater economic rents. This paper also aims to explore the effect of salespeople's selling and collaborative skills on the level of total compensation through the mediating role of sales unit performance.

The data were obtained from a sample of managers of FSUs in 102 large Canadian organizations. The proposed model and its hypotheses were tested using hierarchical moderated regression analysis.

Collaborative skills, but not selling skills, are directly related to FSU performance; the effect of selling skills on FSU performance is strengthened by the complementary role of collaborative skills; and selling skills and collaborative skills both individually and interactively result in the payment of higher compensation to salespeople as a result of their enhanced performance.

Salespeople's selling skills and collaborative skills (both directly and interactively) not only enable the FSU to generate higher levels of performance, but they also increase individual salespeople's compensation.

It is necessary for managers to acknowledge the role of knowledge‐based resources in building/developing organizational dynamic capabilities.

This is one of the few studies that explores the strategic role of salespeople in creating a competitive advantage and links the sales management literature to the literature on the RBV of the firm and social capital/human capital theory.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a model considering synergy effect for prefabricated construction service combination selection.

This research defines prefabricated construction service as a service-led construction method that meets the specific requirements of clients. Based on network theory, the multi-dimensional collaborative relationships of the prefabricated construction inter-services are formulated. The synergy effect is quantitatively calculated through the linear weighting of the strengths of collaborative relationships. Further, a weighted synergy network (WSN) is developed, from which a service composition selection model considering the synergy effect is established. Then, a genetic algorithm is employed to implement the model.

The results showed that (1) when the number of prefabricated construction services is increased, the synergy effect of combination options is enhanced; (2) The finer-grained prefabricated construction services, the stronger the synergy effect of service combination; (3) Clients have heterogeneous preferences for collaborative relationships, and there are differences in the synergy effect of service combination.

The contribution of this research includes proposed a method to quantify the synergy effect from the perspective of collaborative relationships, explored the specific procedure for the prefabricated construction service combination selection under the service-led construction, and provided a reference for promoting the development in construction. Besides, the model proposed could be applied to prefabricated construction service composition selection with diverse research boundaries or client preferences by executing the same procedure.

The paper aims to investigate how proximity dimensions affect the establishment of different knowledge relationships between gatekeepers and other economic actors involved in their knowledge‐based networks.

The methodology is based on an inductive research approach, represented by the explorative case study of the Polytechnic University of Turin. The University's knowledge relationships are identified and distinguished through the analysis of its patent joint‐developments, citations, and R&D projects. Then, for each knowledge relationship, geographical, organizational, and technological proximity between the University and the other economic actors are assessed, adopting suitable proxies.

The data reveal that the University activates collaborative and exploitative relationships with actors characterized by geographical, organizational, and technological proximity. In contrast, collaborative and explorative relationships seem to require actors characterized by more distant technological competencies. Furthermore, the exchange of knowledge by means of non‐collaborative relationships occurs between the University and actors characterized only by technological proximity.

On the basis of this analysis, actors can identify which proximity dimensions assume an important role for activating knowledge flows with gatekeepers. Regarding policy implications, the paper highlights how policy makers should leverage proximities in order to favour and support the exchange of knowledge, hence improving the innovative capability, competitiveness, and attractiveness of regional areas.

This research contributes to shed further light on the nature of the relationships and knowledge flows exchanged by the gatekeepers. In particular, it analyzes how relational attributes can affect the knowledge transfer processes between economic actors.

Collaboration and operational capabilities are two strengths for managing supply chains to achieve operational performance. In this context, this study aims to analyze the mediating effect of operational capabilities on the relationship between collaborative supply chain management and operational performance.

The study design consisted of a theoretical framework to estimate the mediation paths by latent variable structural modeling methods. A survey of 138 respondents from Brazilian capital goods companies was conducted.

The study revealed that operational capabilities partially mediate the relationship between collaborative supply chain management and operational performance. The findings provide important guidance for managers to strengthen the relationship with suppliers to continuously improve operational capability.

As the sample size was made up of 138 respondents, it was impossible to revalidate the theoretical–empirical model. New data need to be collected to re-evaluate the structural model and expand them to other economic segments.

By examining the theoretical insights and empirical findings, the study expanded knowledge about collaborative management and the understanding of the importance of operational capabilities in the relationship between collaborative management and operational performance for management practices.

The study developed a theoretical–empirical measurement model, reliable and statistically validated, to test the mediating effect of operational capabilities in the relationship between collaborative management and operational performance.