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The purpose of this paper is to analyse and review whether national culture influences organisational beliefs about and behaviours to trans‐national alliance partners.

Reviewed extant studies on national culture, organisational culture and business‐to‐business relationship. Using information from the literature review and key informant surveys, a survey instrument comprising of close‐ended questions was developed. The questionnaire was sent to the Chief Executives Officer's of 1,248 organisations identified through systematically selecting every third organisation in the sampling frame. Two weeks later, universal reminders were sent to all 1,248 organisations. The data from 376 fully completed questionnaires returned were analysed through exploratory factor analysis and canonical correlation analysis.

National culture influences beliefs about and behaviours to trans‐national alliance partners. However, beliefs and behaviours are also influenced by the complex inter‐relationships between relational constructs such as trust, commitment, co‐operation, dependence, communication and compatibility. Often, compatibility is not only influenced by national culture but also by the size, business activity and how the organisation is incorporated.

Beliefs about and behaviours to trans‐national partner organisations are not solely influenced by national culture. It is the outcome of complex and diverse social, political, economic and organisational factors and how these factors influence orientations to issues such as trust, commitment, co‐operation and communication.

Explores a hitherto under‐researched theme on trans‐national business alliances, the influence of the national culture of organisations on various relational issues discussed in business‐to‐business relationship studies. The study consolidates knowledge from three streams of literature (national culture, organisational culture and business‐to‐business relationship), often handled as disparate sources of knowledge.

The purpose of this paper is to review and discuss the role of the project champion and the project champion's experience in a business capacity building project in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The project champion mentored and fostered joint enterprises between and across actors engaged in the production, processing, distribution, retailing and exporting of lamb meat and cheese derived from sheep milk. The article aims to analyse and compare the experiences and knowledge from this project with that of knowledge in extant studies on demand chain integration and inter‐firm alliances.

A case study was crafted from information accessed from the project champion, key informants and information about the project presented in the web sites of the United States Agency for International Development and the project champion. The experiences presented in the case study were critically examined and evaluated with the findings in extant studies on inter‐firm alliances.

Demand chain strategy based on customer orientation and seamless integration of all actors in the value chain through a joint enterprise fosters relationship bonding, structural cohesion and transaction efficiencies. The role of a third party project champion in facilitating and mentoring the value chain actors contributed to the success of the joint‐enterprise.

The findings are based on a single case study, the unique characteristics of the study context limits the scope of generalising the findings.

Knowledge from this study is transferable to other industry sectors and can also be adapted in other environments in which individual small‐to‐medium‐scale enterprises experience competency and capacity constraints in developing their business.

Adopts a whole‐of‐chain capacity building approach. The dynamics of the study context (small‐to‐medium scale enterprises in all segments of the chain, niche high value products, transitional economy which recently adopted a free enterprise business model) are unique and this influenced project initiatives and outcomes. The study provides valuable insights into developing small‐to‐medium‐scale food enterprise capacity building projects.