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Starting from the model of the initiation and evolution of inter-firm knowledge transfer in R&D relationships developed by Faems et al. (2007), the purpose of this paper is to refine and improve this model, assessing its reliability in a different and wider context and extending it according to the outcomes.

A multiple case-study approach was implemented, examining 34 dyadic inter-firm R&D relationships. This methodology suited the research goal of exploring the validity of a model in an area where little data or theory exists.

The theoretical model proposed by Faems et al. (2007) was improved, confirming the adequacy of the overall structure of their intuition and highlighting several differences in terms of factors that lead to the dissolution of R&D relationships. These differences mainly refer to partners’ similarities before starting R&D relationships, co-opetition situations, knowledge leakage/opportunistic behavior and reputation issues.

This work is the first to investigate two open research gaps related to the model of the initiation and evolution of inter-firm knowledge transfer in R&D relationships: the need for additional case studies in other contexts to develop a more general theory and the lack of research incorporating issues such as relational capital between partners, governance form and alliance scope in an integrated analysis.

This meta-analysis aims to aggregate empirical findings from extant inter-firm opportunism literature.

First, a quantitative summary on the bivariate relationships between the antecedents and the consequences of opportunism is offered. Second, a multivariate analysis is employed to identify significant antecedents of opportunism and the process variables that mediate the relationship between inter-firm opportunism and organizational performance.

Results reveal that goal congruence has the largest influence on inter-firm opportunism, followed by cultural sensitivity, communication, and environmental volatility, norms, governance emphasis, and relative dependence. These important antecedents represent significant research directions for inter-firm opportunism. In addition, inter-firm opportunism affects organizational performance through a mediating process including commitment, functional conflict, overall satisfaction, and trust. Commitment is found to act as a major moderating construct between inter-firm opportunism and its other significant consequences in the revised model.

This study widens the horizon on inter-firm opportunism research by examining a much greater number of effect sizes and by employing a more complex framework of the mechanism mediating the inter-firm opportunism-organizational performance relationship and does so more effectively than any individual research work.

Organizational learning in inter‐firm exchange relationships poses a double‐edged sword. On one hand, inter‐firm learning is a desirable extension of organizational learning, developing a firm’s knowledge base, and providing fresh insights into strategies, markets, and relationships. On the other hand, inter‐firm learning can lead to unintended and undesirable skills transfer, resulting in the potential dilution of competitive advantage. This risk can be exacerbated by disparities in inter‐firm learning, resulting in uneven distribution of benefits and risks in the collaborative relationship. This paper articulates these two different views on inter‐firm learning, and second, develops a framework for the role of governance in regulating knowledge transfer. In particular, appropriate governance mechanisms must be crafted which match the learning intentions of the partners, the type of knowledge sought, and the designed duration for the collaboration, so as to maximize the benefits of learning while minimizing the risks. Implications for strategy and future research are offered.

To gain competitive advantage, shipping companies need the abilities to manage environmental requirements, which this study refers to as sustainable shipping capabilities, including internal resources and external factors such as inter-firm collaboration. However, previous studies mainly focused on the effectiveness of internal resources, leading decision-makers in shipping companies to undervalue the significance of external relationships in managing sustainability issues and their impact on performance. Therefore, this paper aims to identify and examine the impacts of sustainable inter-firm collaboration on shipping companies' business performance (i.e. shippers' loyalty and financial performance).

A proposed model that explains the relationships between relation bonding strategies, sustainable inter-firm collaboration and business performance was developed. Accordingly, a survey questionnaire was constructed and sent to 294 shipping companies in Vietnam. Structural equation modeling was deployed to examine the validity of the measurement items and investigate relationships among the latent constructs.

The findings show that financial bonding strategies have the most significant impact on sustainable inter-firm collaboration, followed by social bonding strategies and structural bonding strategies. Furthermore, sustainable inter-firm collaboration has direct and indirect (via perceived shippers' loyalty) effects on business performance.

Relational bonding strategies provide a unique perspective to sustainable inter-firm collaboration. This study also contributes to allocate external resources and capabilities to improve inter-firm collaboration, thereby maximizing financial performance.

This paper contributes to the literature by applying relational bonding strategies that determine the key factors enabling sustainable inter-firm collaboration.

Inter-firm integration is a multidimensional concept. This study aims to examine the performance effects of two aspects of inter-firm integration, coordination integration and authority integration, and their co-alignment with strategic and contextual factors.

The author conducted a quantitative empirical study using survey data of Japanese manufacturing companies’ relationships with their wholesalers to test hypotheses based on a literature review.

Coordination integration has a positive performance effect. There is co-alignment between high (low) coordination integration and high (low) product uniqueness. High (low) coordination integration is associated with high (low) demand uncertainty. High (low) authority integration is consistent with high (low) behavioral uncertainty.

This study contributes theoretically to marketing channel and business-to-business marketing literature by holistically examining the linkages among governance forms, marketing-strategic factors, exchange-contextual factors and inter-firm performance. A limitation of this study is that the research data were collected in only one country, Japan. Thus, country-specific factors might affect the analytical outcomes.

Appropriate co-alignment among governance, strategies and contexts significantly influences performance. The findings have significant implications for manufacturing firms’ channel strategies.

This study tests the influences of two distinct dimensions of inter-firm integration on inter-firm outcomes, which few previous studies address. It comprehensively examines the linkages among governance forms, strategic factors, environmental factors and performance.

Notwithstanding that there has been increasing attention on factors that enhance SME performance in developing economies, there is a dearth of studies explicitly investigating the roles of government support systems and inter-firm collaboration. Drawing on the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm and institutional theories, this study aims to model and examine how government support, inter-firm collaboration and managerial ties affect SME performance and further explores how firm specific resources mediate the relationships.

A quantitative research design was used. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire from 438 SMEs operating in Zambia, a developing Sub-Saharan African country. Hierarchical linear regression and SPSS PROCESS macro were used to test the hypotheses.

Findings indicate that managerial ties have both a direct and indirect effect, through firm resources, on financial performance. Also, the relationship between inter-firm collaboration and financial performance is fully mediated by firm resources. Surprisingly, results reveal that government support does not have a significant effect on SME financial performance.

The study has important implications for SME managers and policy makers. It demonstrates that inter-firm collaborations and managerial ties enhance a firm’s financial performance. It also highlights the view that SMEs need to have firm specific resources to transform external resources, accessed from inter-firm relationships, into superior performance. SME policy makers are advised to focus more on policies and support mechanisms that promote inter-firm relationships at firm and managerial levels.

This study is one of the few studies to empirically show that the differential effects of inter-firm collaboration and managerial ties on SME performance are channeled through firm resources, in an under-researched developing Sub-Saharan African economy context. The study is also one of the few studies to reveal that government support is not significantly related to SME performance. Therefore, it provides valuable insights which could be applied to other developing countries with characteristics similar to Zambia.

The purpose of this article is to develop and propose a comprehensive framework that identifies the factors that influence a company’s decision to adopt business to business (B2B) technologies.

The authors review the literature regarding technology adoption from multiple disciplines including: Supply Chain Management, Logistics, Sociology, Information Systems, Marketing and Economics. A synthesis of the review provides the foundation for developing a comprehensive model of inter-firm technology adoption.

The review and synthesis finds inconsistencies in the theoretical models and constructs used in previous studies of inter-firm technology adoption. The comprehensive framework presented identifies four major categories of antecedents to technology adoption: characteristics of a technology, organizational factors, external factors and relationships. The presented model focuses attention on the inclusion of relational factors that affect the adoption of B2B technology.

An important area that has been ignored in the inter-firm adoption literature is the impact of inter-firm relationships on technology adoption. This paper emphasizes the importance of inter-firm relationships and identifies power, trust and justice as important relationships that influence the adoption of inter-firm technologies.

The expanded framework identifies the antecedents of B2B technology adoption, which can be used as a guiding framework by both academics and practitioners. The paper also offers directions for future work in the form of propositions.

The past decade has seen substantial changes in how organizational leaders work with external stakeholders to improve innovation performance. As leaders have encouraged the extensive involvement of suppliers and customers into the innovation process this has led to the formation of supplier innovation triads that are often governed by a portfolio of strategic alliances. The purpose of this paper is to explore how leaders’ inter-firm relationships and strategic alliances influence the development of supplier innovation triads.

The sample of firms in the Toyota supplier association is constructed from multiple data sets, including the Japan Patent Office, BoardEx and S&PCapitalIQ. The authors test the hypotheses using multivariate techniques, moderation analysis and endogeneity tests.

The results indicate that leadership relationships to Toyota and its suppliers have a positive effect on the formation of supplier innovation triads. The authors find that firm–external leadership relationships and alliance partner diversity have differential moderating effects on how customer and supplier leadership relationships could be used to build supplier innovation triads.

The results focus on the firms within the Toyota supplier association, and this limits the paper’s generalizability. Although patent data provide a detailed information resource, it do not capture all collaborations.

The authors expand the leadership literature by undertaking one of the first studies of inter-firm leadership relationships and their differential effects on innovation triads. The authors contribute to the literature by exploring the antecedents and moderating factors that influence buyer–supplier–supplier triads within an innovation setting.

Inter‐firm relationships are increasingly being adopted as competitive tools. However, the challenges created by these relationships for the design and use of management control systems (MCS) have been well documented. The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of the literature on MCS and inter‐firm relationships. The review examines the types of relationships studied and the theoretical approaches.

The findings reported in the paper are based on desk research. The review is largely concentrated on the key international English language accounting journals.

Supply chain and outsourcing have been the dominant forms of inter‐firm relationships studied. Other studies have focused on joint ventures and networks. Transaction cost economics has been the dominant approach and trust has also featured as a theoretical issue in most of the studies.

The paper furthers the understanding of the contributions made by previous studies on MCS and inter‐firm relationships. Some suggestions for future research are offered at the end.

The purpose of this paper is to examine and develop a strategic performance model for small and medium enterprises linking with inter-firm networks, strategic alignment and environmental dynamism.

Drawing on the live experiences of 757 respondents, including managing directors/owners and CEOs of different SMEs, the authors proposed a theoretical model representing how firms could attain strategic performance through inter-firm networks with a mediating role of strategic alignment.

The current study demonstrated that SMEs with strong inter-firm networks have the ability to align business activities with strategies and get earlier strategic performance. Strategic performance looks skeptical to ever gain acceptance until strategic alignment is adopted by small and medium enterprises. The findings of this study indicated that environmental dynamism strengthens the relationship between strategic alignment and strategic performance.

This research extended the understanding about the inter-firm networks, strategic alignment and environmental dynamism surrounding strategic performance. This study identified and empirically tested how the inter-firm networks impact on strategic performance through the mediating effect of strategic alignment.