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The emergence of “interorganizational marketing” as a hot topic leads to one key question: can interorganizational governance mechanisms (socialization, incentives, and monitoring) offered by marketing theory be applied to China, an emerging economy characterized by the Chinese guanxi relationship? The purpose of this paper is to seek to answer this question by introducing the importance of guanxi roles and by illustrating how to apply proper governance mechanisms to roles activation in Chinese business practice. The paper finds that the answer is “yes” and develops a theoretical model to show such interactions.

The paper applies interorganizational strategies to interpersonal relationships. Guanxi was categorized into three categories – family members, helpers and business partners – which meet each of the three governance mechanisms (in addition to favoring exchange as a special and typical Chinese governance mechanism) in the model.

Through ex post role activation, the paper argues that guanxi is a dynamic balance and the ways in which various governance mechanisms can set roles will lead to the roles either changing (reinforcement or dilution) or switching (helper to business partner, and vice versa). It seems futile to implement external governance mechanisms on family ties (the main category of guanxi) that have been firmly rooted in Chinese culture. On the other hand, applying the four mentioned governance mechanisms could reinforce, maintain, or dilute helper and business partner roles, or even make it possible to switch from one to another.

The paper proposes a new concept regarding relationship marketing, namely the application of governance mechanisms to interpersonal relationships, which provides people doing business in China with a new perspective for reference.

This paper seeks to study how interorganizational governance mechanisms within mobile eco‐systems are affected by the end of the walled gardens and what this implies for developing mobile internet services.

Starting from concepts on interorganizational governance, the paper conducts an extensive case study on how the Dutch walled garden i‐mode portal evolved in an open WAP‐based portal.

The transition of walled garden to open portals dramatically changes governance mechanisms between operator and content providers. Authority‐based governance in the form of operator rules, contracts‐based governance in the form of formalized agreements, and trust‐based governance in the form of close collaboration all reduced following the end of the walled garden.

The author demonstrates that theoretical concepts of interorganizational governance are relevant for actors within the mobile ecosystem to understand, next to regulatory, technical and market mechanisms, if they are to provide value to the customers as well as to the eco‐system itself.

Although scholars often agree that the choice between walled gardens and open models will influence service innovation, existing studies do not systematically study how governance between operators and content providers changes when the mobile eco‐system is transforming from walled gardens to open models. Although this paper focuses on the relation between operators and content providers, the power shift to hardware and platform providers implies that governance is still highly relevant. As walled gardens also emerge in other areas of ICT‐enabled services, for instance in the Smart Living domain, the insights will be valuable for studies on ICT‐enabled service industries as well.

Drawing on the transactional cost economics (TCE) perspective, we aim to investigate the effects of the balance and imbalance between contractual and relational governance on a firm's bridging responses to supply chain disruptions. By adopting the institutionally contingent perspective, we further examine the moderating effect of cultural distance on the relationship between governance mechanisms and bridging responses.

Based on data collected from 183 firms in China, we use polynomial regression and response surface analyses to test our research model.

The bridging responses increase along with an increasing balance level between contractual and relational governance and decrease along with an increasing imbalance level between contractual and relational governance. Moreover, the positive effect of balance between contractual and relational governance is strengthened by a large cultural distance. We also find that a large cultural distance amplifies the negative effect of the combination of high relational governance and low contractual governance yet weakens that of the combination of high contractual governance and low relational governance.

Our study provides nuanced insights into the effects of the balance and imbalance between contractual and relational governance on bridging responses and into the cultural boundary conditions under which these effects vary.

With the growing trend of digital technology in global supply chains, how to manage global supply chain relationships under digital transformation becomes a critical issue. However, academic research in this area is sparse. This study develops and tests a theoretical framework of the moderating effect of virtual integration on interorganziational governance in international customer supplier relationships.

We chose to examine the specific cross-border relationships between Taiwanese suppliers and their international OEMs because Taiwanese suppliers tend to be smaller than their international OEM customers, and thus their relationships usually show power asymmetry. Furthermore, the Taiwanese electronics industry offers a valuable empirical context because its industry members have served as pioneers in information technology development, have championed cross-border relationships with US and European industry leaders and are actively participating in the world economy

Our empirical findings indicate that virtual integration will strengthen the effect contractual governance on relationship performance. However, the moderating effect of virtual integration on relational governance is not significant. The paper discusses the theoretical and managerial implications in the end.

This study contributes to interorganizational governance literature in international contexts. Previous work on international relationship management has focused much on MNE buyers' perspectives and paid little attention to the suppliers' perspectives. This study extends this stream of research by empirically examining how suppliers can govern their MNEs' customers via different governance mechanisms. The findings extend literature on virtual integration and show that virtual integration can complement detailed contract and safeguard opportunism, which in turn, enhance relationship performance in international customer–supplier relationships.

The purpose of this paper is to provide and illustrate a framework for the role of governance mechanisms in information sharing among supply chain members. The importance of trust in governing interorganizational relationships is emphasized.

Trust, bargaining power, and contract are three key constructs supporting the governance of information sharing and material flow coordination in supply chains. A conceptual framework showing how these governance mechanisms affect coordination and ultimately, supply chain performance is presented. Four types of trust – calculative, competence, integrity, and predictability – are thought to play an important role in determining the efficacy of information sharing. Three research questions are posed on the relationships among trust, bargaining power, contracts, and information sharing in supply chain coordination. These governance issues are shown to be key factors in the supply chain business model, as illustrated in a case study from the retail distribution industry in the USA where collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment is used to exchange supply and demand forecasts.

An example from the retail distribution industry shows that the three constructs of the governance framework are intertwined. Trust as a governance mechanism plays a crucial role in sharing information among business partners.

The proposed framework is illustrated with a single case. It will need to be tested empirically for supply chains across different industries.

The paper presents a governance mechanism framework for supply chain information sharing. Knowledge of the role of governance mechanisms in information sharing coordination will help chain members to realign business relationships and contribute to improved overall operational performance of the chain.

The purpose of this paper is to, first, explore the role of interpersonal relationships between buying and supplying firms in the management of supply chain disruptions (SCDs). Interpersonal connections are proposed as “social lubricants” that can advance the knowledge about conventional interorganizational antecedents of firm resilience. Differentiating between high- and low-complexity manufacturing industries, the study then looks into how managers from these industry clusters can leverage the efficacy of these relationships through the appropriate use of interorganizational governance mechanisms.

Structural equation modeling is conducted with data collected from 229 manufacturing firms in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Industry clusters are formed via a Q-sort exercise.

Results support the assumption of a socially embedded, interpersonal dimension in buyer-supplier relationships that impact organizational-level resilience. It is suggested that investments in interpersonal skills and interpersonal complementarity are significant antecedents of both relational and re-deployable firm resilience. Surprisingly, no support was found for a positive impact of interpersonal information sharing on firm resilience, challenging findings from previous studies on an interorganizational level. Interorganizational governance and industry affiliation each have moderating effects on the performance of the resilience efficacy of interpersonal relationship antecedents, suggesting the existence of an important managerial lever.

Integrating the supply chain and behavioral science literature, this study is the first to investigate the interplay of interpersonal and organizational antecedents and their efficacy in the management of SCDs.

Although existing partial theories contribute to scholarly understanding of strategic alliances, the lack of a comprehensive framework to explain strategic alliances is unfortunate. The purpose of this paper is to develop an integrated framework for maker‐buyer strategic alliance performance.

Drawing on the concept of embeddedness developed by Granovetter, this paper argues that maker‐buyer alliances are economic actions intended to pursue synergies; meanwhile, these economic actions are embedded in social contexts.

This paper argues that the economic goal of firms entering alliances is to combine their complementary resources to create synergies. To achieve this goal, managers must efficiently manage the economic problems associated with such alliances, including searching for partners with complementary resources, allocating value‐added activities correctly, establishing efficient interorganizational routines, and introducing proper governance structures. Furthermore, alliances are embedded in their social contexts. Firms are constrained by their specific social environments and behave accordingly, impacting their performance. It is difficult for firms to modify the contexts in which they are embedded without strong strategic intent. The social contexts in which firms are embedded may also be sources of sustainable competitive advantage or disadvantage.

Several managerial implications and future research directions are presented.

This study, by integrating economic and sociological theories into a framework and focusing on maker‐buyer alliances, depicts not only the full picture but also the necessary details of maker‐buyer alliances for scholars and practical managers.

Inter‐firm knowledge sharing and learning constitute one of the main avenues to improve supply chains' performance in today's business environment. This paper aims to examine how effective different governance mechanisms are in promoting knowledge transfer, learning and performance in supply chains.

Following on from the literature in inter‐organizational learning, transaction costs economics, business‐to‐business relational marketing, and supply chain management, a model is presented and tested using structural equations modeling. Data were collected from 219 Colombian apparel manufacturers.

This paper finds that from more influential to less, social mechanisms of governance, hostages and behavioral control favor knowledge sharing, learning and performance in supply chains. Output control exerts a negative influence on learning in supply chains.

Governance has a key role in promoting transparency and learning in supply chains. Future research should analyze whether it impacts on the firms' learning intent.

Knowledge sharing and learning have a positive influence on the supply chain's performance. Results of the study suggest that the supply chain's competitiveness lies in the adequate governance of the interfirm relationships, i.e. by using trust, hostages and behavioral control to support knowledge exchange.

Compared with studies that limit their analysis to the impact of one specific type of governance mechanism, generally trust, the paper for the first time jointly examines the role of several types of governance on knowledge‐sharing in supply chains, on learning and on performance. This allows a comparison of the different mechanisms in terms of their safeguarding and coordination role.

The purpose of this study is to explore how food-exporting firms assess the importance of relationship characteristics of the supply chain that impact their performance as well as how it relates to export performance indicators.

An online survey was administered across 83 food firms in Greece, assessing the importance of relationship characteristics of the supply chain by using the best–worst scaling technique.

The most important characteristics relate to the quality of the primary material and the procurement costs and producer prices; these are considered more important by export-oriented food firms compared to non–export-oriented food firms. Characteristics that relate to the relationship between members of the agri-food supply chain and the interorganizational business systems and governance mechanisms are also considered of average importance. Characteristics related to the adoption of differentiation strategies are considered least important.

Producers should emphasize the quality and prices of their product as well as establish collaborations with food firms. Food firms need to emphasize interorganizational business systems and governance mechanisms that reduce procurement costs, instead of trying to reduce producer prices. Public authorities should engage stakeholders of the agri-food supply chain in relationships that will enable food firms to deliver on their quality and price demands.

Primary production and collaborations of it with food firms have not been studied in regards to what extent they relate to food firms' export performance.

This study aims to examine the effects of formal and informal institutional factors (i.e. marketization and guanxi culture) on interorganizational conflicts (IOCs) and their interaction effects.

Drawing on IOC literature and an institution-based view, the authors use a sample of 12,022 Chinese firms from the World Bank’s Investment Climate Survey. A zero-inflated negative binomial regression was used to analyze the data.

The results suggest that guanxi culture has U-shaped effects, but marketization does not negatively affect IOCs. Furthermore, a low level of marketization weakens the U-shaped effect of guanxi culture on IOCs. A moderate level of guanxi culture can enable marketization to reduce IOCs.

This study provides a better understanding of the management of IOCs. Managers should fully understand the differential effects of the institutional environment in different regions and their interactions by adopting different response strategies.

This study enriches the literature on IOCs’ antecedents and contextual factors by examining the institutions’ direct and interaction effects on IOCs.