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The purpose of this paper is to provide a community perspective on partnerships with the goal of researching, designing, developing and commercializing non‐timber forest products (NTFPs) based on indigenous knowledge and resources from Pikangikum First Nation, northwestern Ontario, Canada.

Framed by the Whitefeather Forest Research Cooperative agreement, a collaborative and ethnographic research design was adopted with the Whitefeather Forest Management Corporation and the Whitefeather Forest Elders Steering Group in Pikangikum First Nation. Over the period of two years, initial research planning meetings were held with community representatives, fieldwork and interviews with community Elders and leaders were conducted, and three community workshops were held.

Community Elders and leaders articulated a cautious interest in developing ethical, collaborative partnerships that support the Whitefeather Forest Initiative and the community's social, cultural, economic and environmental goals. Developing NTFPs through partnerships is a procedural issue that requires giving Elders a primary role in advising and guiding partnerships at all stages of NTFP planning, research and development. Partners would be expected to build respectful and diligent partnerships that interface knowledge systems, maintain good relations, and generate mutually defined benefits.

This community‐specific approach provides insight for Aboriginal groups, governments, universities, and corporations seeking to develop access and benefit sharing agreements, policies, or protocols in light of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Nagoya Protocol.

This paper offers perspectives, principles, and community member narratives from a Canadian indigenous community, Pikangikum First Nation. These perspectives describe how this community envisions potential research, development and commercialization of NTFPs through joint and mutually beneficial partnerships.

Earlier attempts to develop a strategy for the apparel industry in Canada to counter the adverse effects of trade liberalisation on Canadian apparel suppliers have been based on the concept of clustering. However, despite the support from government-supported industry bodies, clustering has not been forthcoming and this situation has created a pressing need for the development of an alternative to the clustering strategy. A study by the Canadian Apparel Human Resources Council offered up several different strategies including clustering, that the Canadian apparel industry might pursue, but these have not been taken up. Evidence gained from government reports on the industry and its performance, industry case studies, an experience survey and questionnaire reported earlier, leads to a radically different alternative with a more direct relationship between Canadian apparel suppliers and retailer. The purpose of this paper is to report and construct an evidence-based collaborative strategy together with its accompanying apparel industry business model.

The evidence gained from case studies of Canadian apparel businesses, a secondary data search, an experience survey and an online questionnaire has been followed and combined with retailer requirements from apparel suppliers.

The information gained from apparel industry representatives, government sources and industry reports has enabled step-by-step construction of an evidence-based business model centred on the formation of collaborative partnerships between apparel suppliers and retailers.

The model reflects the fact that Canadian apparel retailers have taken the leading role in the supplier/retailer relationship and shows how Canadian apparel suppliers might better position themselves to combat competition from offshore suppliers through the formation of closer links with retail partners. It points not only to a requirement for Canadian apparel suppliers to become integrated into their retail partner’s retail management systems and technology, but also demonstrates the need for the formation of strong alliances through collaborative partnerships between supplier and retailer to address the needs of the apparel market.

The purpose of this paper is to explore critical success factors (CSFs) in interdisciplinary building design projects from the view point of the project members themselves. While there is a plethora of research on CSFs, there is a paucity of studies that examine CSFs within this unique project context.

Semi‐structured interviews, a survey and facilitated workshops were used to identify factors and their interrelationships within the project context.

Thirty‐one primary CSFs were distilled which were then further grouped into four interdependent group factors: management factors, design team factors, competencies and resources factors and project enablers. It would appear that there are factors that are particularly important in such project environments, which do not figure strongly in other project environments. These factors are related to the socio‐political dynamics of inter‐disciplinary team work such as passion and enthusiasm, shared values, creativity and innovation and represent so‐called “super soft factors” which reflect personal success and its importance in achieving positive project outcomes.

Although there has been significant research on CSFs in construction projects, little attention has been paid to those which are related to the collaborative design phase of such projects.

The results suggest that it is worthwhile for managers in construction related organisations and beyond to recognise the interdependencies which exist between the project context, processes and the project members' experience and affinity to the project and the team itself in project work to achieve desired outcomes.

This paper extends the CSF literature by identifying the nature of the primary factors and their interrelationships which influence project outcomes in collaborative design projects.

The purpose of this paper is to examine, by means of case studies, the mechanisms by which relationships can be managed and by which communication and cooperation can be enhanced in sustainable supply chains. The research was predicated on the contention that the development of a sustainable supply chain depends, in part, on the transfer of knowledge and capabilities from the larger players in the supply chain.

The research adopted a triangulated approach in which quantitative data were collected by questionnaire, interviews were conducted to explore and enrich the quantitative data and case studies were undertaken in order to illustrate and validate the findings. Handy's view of organisational culture, Allen and Meyer's concepts of organisational commitment and Van de Ven and Ferry's measures of organisational structuring have been combined into a model to test and explain how collaborative mechanisms can affect supply chain sustainability.

It has been shown that the degree of match and mismatch between organisational culture and structure has an impact on staff's commitment level. A sustainable supply chain depends on convergence – that is the match between organisational structuring, organisation culture and organisation commitment.

The study is a proof of concept and three case studies have been used to illustrate the nature of the model developed. Further testing and refinement of the model in practice should be the next step in this research.

The concept of relationship management needs to filter down to all levels in the supply chain if participants are to retain commitment and buy‐in to the relationship. A sustainable supply chain requires proactive relationship management and the development of an appropriate organisational culture, and trust. By legitimising individuals' expectations of the type of culture which is appropriate to their company and empowering employees to address mismatches that may occur, a situation can be created whereby the collaborating organisations develop their competences symbiotically and so facilitate a sustainable supply chain.

The culture/commitment/structure model developed from three separate strands of management thought has proved to be a powerful tool for analysing collaboration in supply chains and explaining how and why some supply chains are sustainable, and others are not.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the perception of propensity to trust and organizational commitment of quantity surveyors and examine if propensity to trust among working partners enhances organizational commitment of quantity surveyors.

Organizational commitment and propensity to trust is linked through the framework of social exchange. Quantitative approach with questionnaire survey is employed to investigate whether propensity to trust would enhance organizational commitment. Questionnaires are sent to the quantity surveyors who are professional members of the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors and are working in the Hong Kong construction industry. In total, 71 valid responses are obtained for data analysis.

Contrary to prediction, propensity to trust does not show significant relationship with both affective and continuance commitment. The two propensity to trust scales show different results on the relationship with normative commitment (NC). When working relationship is taken into consideration, quantity surveyor’s propensity to trust the partner who has the worst working relationship has significant and positive impact on the surveyor’s NC level; whilst quantity surveyor’s propensity to trust the partner who has the best working relationship does not has significant positive impact on the surveyor’s NC level.

To improve propensity to trust among quantity surveyors, consultant companies should provide professional-related training programme to quantity surveyors as to explore their potential. The provision of training programs would also help quantity surveyors feel that they are supported by the organization, which would improve their commitment to the organization.

This is the first study to apply the social exchange theory to study organizational commitment within the quantity surveying profession and construction industry, which provides a new point for understanding the concept amongst the profession and industry.

This paper explores how public buyers' capabilities promote collaboration with private suppliers to obtain enhanced performance in complex projects.

The authors conducted two case studies on the procurement of complex military projects by the Brazilian armed forces involving public buyers and private suppliers. The authors followed the Gioia methodology to inductively analyze data from interviews, official documents, media articles and project meeting notes.

The authors identified public procurement capabilities that are antecedents of collaborative trust-based relationships with suppliers in complex public-private projects. The authors unpack these capabilities in three subsets: abilities to manage the bidding and contracting process, to handle relationships with prominent stakeholders, such as audit control bodies and to manage knowledge acquired within and across current and past projects. By developing these capabilities, public buyers can build collaborative trust-based relationships with suppliers, which enable the conciliation of operational performance (i.e. on-time delivery, budget and scope compliance) and policy goals (i.e. inclusion of local suppliers in supply chains).

The authors extend the literature on the enablers of trust and collaboration in buyer-supplier relationships by providing a detailed account of which capabilities are necessary on the buyer side in complex projects, especially when accountability standards create barriers for collaborative practices. The authors also reinforce the importance of the operations and supply chain management scholarship in policy debates by showing how buyer-supplier interactions can create value in complex projects with public and private sectors.

This research focuses on the role of customer behavior in service outsourcing relationships that are governed by outcome-oriented contracts. The purpose of this paper is to explain how non-collaborative customer behavior impedes the effectiveness of outcome-oriented contracts to align the goals and incentives of the customer and service provider, and leads to service provider opportunism.

Nine hypotheses are developed regarding customer behavior and the reaction of the service provider to this. These are tested using structural equation modeling with data from 213 service outsourcing relationships.

Outcome-orientated contracts in service outsourcing may have unintended consequences because they create value attribution ambiguity. This ambiguity induces non-collaborative customer behavior, which, in turn, results in service provider opportunism. This reveals a paradox, where customer behavior aimed at curbing service provider opportunism instead induces such opportunism. This chain of effects can be counteracted by increased outcome attributability, which reduces the ambiguity and, thus, the motivation for non-collaborative customer behavior.

This research extends the existing literature by stressing that non-collaborative customer behavior is a key reason why outcome-oriented contracts fail in effectively governing outsourcing relationships, and that this can be counteracted by increased outcome attributability.

Purpose – Academic librarians are well positioned to take on the role of the informed learning developer, working with teachers to design coursework in which students learn to use information as they engage with course context. This chapter aims to provide insights to academic librarians of how they may approach integrating information literacy into courses using an informed learning approach by identifying key aspects of this collaborative work.

Methods The literature on educational development, specifically outlining the core responsibilities, activities, skills, and models used by educational developers is reviewed and key aspects are identified and applied to describe the role of a developer working with teachers to foster learning through engagement with information in higher education.

Findings – Four key aspects of the work of educational developers are identified: collaborative, scholarly, contextual, and reflective. When adapted to describe the efforts of a developer focused on creating informed learning experiences for students, the four aspects include:

partnering with teachers to develop informed learning experiences by leveraging the expertise of the teacher and the librarian;

applying an informed learning pedagogic approach, and drawing from and sharing information literacy scholarship illuminating how information is used in the learning process;

creating informed learning experiences that are responsive to institutional and disciplinary perspectives; and

encouraging teachers to reflect on their intentions for content-focused learning and how learning outcomes may be shaped through interactions with information.

Implications – Drawing upon their expertise in how learners use information, academic librarians can use the findings to concentrate their consultative efforts to effectively partner with teachers to transform student learning experiences in higher education.

The purpose of this paper is to examine through a sensemaking lens the transforming nature of scientists’ work role in public research organizations (PROs), resulting from organizational innovations in the form of collaborative culture.

Based on a symbolic-functionalist theory of work role transition, the paper uses interview data from a case study to explore scientists’ sensemaking of work role change.

Work role transition and identity processes among scientists in traditional PROs reveal tensions regarding organizational restructuring to the extent that organizational innovations are changing scientific work conflict with organizational norms, procedures and reward structures in hierarchical, bureaucratic PROs.

As the paper is based on only one case study, further research should be carried out on the difficulties involved in transforming the nature of the scientific work role and the way scientists recognize, contradict and make sense of changes.

The novelty of this paper is in the un-discussed role of organizational innovations in enabling new work roles for scientists in public research centers and how scientists make sense of and react to these innovations. Therefore, this paper could be beneficial for PROs facing pressure to restructure.