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This paper aims to examine the relationship between cooperation and inter‐organisational coordination in the supply chain. There is much literature debate over the nature of electronic trading enabled cooperation and coordination in the supply chain. The paper examines the major concepts associated with inter‐organisational cooperation in social network literature such as collaboration and partnership and how this is affected by changing forms of coordination (market and hierarchy) governance.

Seminal literatures about how electronic market and hierarchy coordination mechanisms have changed over time are examined. While some evidence from interviewing companies is used in conjunction with literature to inform discuss the workings of a matrix framework, the discussion remains essentially conceptual.

A conceptual cooperation and coordination matrix outlines four quadrant forms of cooperation relative to evolving electronic markets and hierarchy coordination contexts, namely; “collaboration”, “partnership”, “dominance” and “autonomous”. The matrix depicts and describes subtle differences in these forms of cooperation. Collaboration involves a low degree of vertical integration and a high number of trading partners transacting on short‐term contracts. Partnering involves a higher degree of inter‐firm linkage with fewer stable partners on a medium to long‐term basis. Dominance is characterised as a traditional form of hierarchical inter‐firm linkage with a high degree of vertical integration. The autonomous organisation specialises in the production and delivery of major super brands which in the case of information based products can be sold directly to the customer.

The contribution is a discussion analysis and new matrix framework depicting forms of cooperation relative to market and hierarchy coordination contexts in the supply chain. This is useful for understanding theoretical interplay between different forms of inter‐firm cooperation and complex supply chain inter‐dependencies that utilise information technology.

Examines the application of electronic commerce (EC) in a cross‐cultural context. The problems likely to be encountered by a Chinese organization are analysed and interpreted in terms of conflicting cultural values. The costs associated with EC are also analyzed and two new costs, technology and competition, are introduced. The costs are classified according to the traditional market and the EC market and also by the coordination mechanism. While Chinese firms are showing considerable enthusiasm for EC, it is felt that they may not yet be ready to undertake the major organizational developments and re‐engineering efforts required to successfully implement EC. EC will also present Chinese managers with faceless transactions which may conflict with current cultural values.

This paper illuminates the distinction between individual and organizational actors in business-to-business markets as well as the coexistence of formal and informal mechanisms of coordination in multinational corporations. The main questions addressed include the following. (1) What factors influence the occurrence of personal contacts of foreign subsidiary managers in industrial multinational corporations? (2) How such personal contacts enable coordination in industrial markets and within multinational firms? The theoretical context of the paper is based on: (1) the interaction approach to industrial markets, (2) the network approach to industrial markets, and (3) the process approach to multinational management. The unit of analysis is the foreign subsidiary manager as the focal actor of a contact network. The paper is empirically focused on Portuguese sales subsidiaries of Finnish multinational corporations, which are managed by either a parent country national (Finnish), a host country national (Portuguese) or a third country national. The paper suggests eight scenarios of individual dependence and uncertainty, which are determined by individual, organizational, and/or market factors. Such scenarios are, in turn, thought to require personal contacts with specific functions. The paper suggests eight interpersonal roles of foreign subsidiary managers, by which the functions of their personal contacts enable inter-firm coordination in industrial markets. In addition, the paper suggests eight propositions on how the functions of their personal contacts enable centralization, formalization, socialization and horizontal communication in multinational corporations.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how various transaction-cost characteristics influence the choice of vertical coordination (VC) structures (e.g. different contract types) and horizontal coordination (HC) structures (e.g. different farmer organization types) to link smallholder farmers efficiently with buyers. It analyzes the relationship between vertical and horizontal structures, and the economic sustainability of different structure combinations.

The paper develops a conceptual framework to predict coordination structures as a function of transaction-cost characteristics, compares predictions for the Malian cereals market to empirical evidence using 15 case studies, and then analyzes structure combinations.

Asymmetric scale between farmers and buyers; uncertainty in production, prices, policy, and contract enforcement; and quality and quantity debasement lead to selections of structures with high levels of control. Vertical and horizontal structures demonstrate a complementary relationship in certain core coordination roles, while exhibiting substitutability in the provision of other coordination activities. The marketing cooperative and marketing contract pairing is the most prevalent combination.

The conceptual framework is useful for explaining the selection of coordination structures, and can be applied in other contexts to strengthen external validity.

The framework facilitates predictions and explanation of both VC and HC structures, with empirical application on a country and value chains receiving little attention in the literature.

The main purpose of this paper is to introduce a comprehensive model explaining the global expansion of firms and to find out viable strategies for firms to survive global competition.

Through the critical review over existing literature, this study first introduces a new framework explaining the global expansion of firms at the level of functional activities in the value chain, and then empirically tests the predictions of the new framework with data in the motor industry.

Empirical findings confirm the new model's predictions. First, each function in the value chain has a unique way of global expansion: the global strategy is suitable for the production function, while the multidomestic strategy is applicable to the marketing function. Second, each function follows a dynamic path of global expansion from domestic to transnational via either global or multidomestic, according to the innate characteristics of corresponding function. Finally, the degree of global expansion of a firm is positively correlated with its financial performance.

Focusing on developing a new framework on global expansion, this study utilizes a rather small number of data and, therefore, requires readers' discretion when interpreting the results of statistical analyses.

With the dynamic diversification‐coordination model, managers can recognize the level and characteristics of their firms' global expansion, not only at the firm level but also at the functional level. This allows managers to establish a global strategy tailored to each function, thus reconciling possible conflicts generated from different interests among different functions in the firm.

First, this article introduces a new perspective of analyzing the global expansion of firms by shifting the level of analysis from the firm level to the functional level where the new framework can reconcile the constant debates on globalization. Second, this article suggests an intuitive and theory‐based index measuring the degree of global expansion of firms.

Regarding the global development of the wine industry, China has gained a notable share in terms of wine consumption, and its domestic wine production has increased steadily since 2000. The wine production process requires close coordination between growers and processors to avoid disruption and instability in the supply chain of the wine grapes. However, vertical coordination in the Chinese wine regions has received little attention. Based on the existing theoretical background on vertical coordination, this study aims to detect the evolution processes of vertical coordination in the Chinese grape market.

Exploratory qualitative research fits with the aim of this study. From December 2018 to January 2019, interviews with grape growers and wine processors of various Chinese wine-producing areas took place. After transcribing all recorded files into text, a qualitative data analysis following the approach of Mayring (2015) was used to analyse and interpret the data.

The models of vertical coordination in the grape supply in China vary between the producer's requirements on grape quality/quantity and the arrangements of grape supply chains, which are diverse depending on regional strategies of the local government.

However, in this research, the authors did not get into details on the organization of the contractual coordination, and due to the limited access to grape growers, the relationship between farmers and processors cannot be analysed in detail. With a better understanding of the coordination relationship and enhanced contract enforcement, the vineyard management and grape supply chain management can be better performed, inducing a steady industrial development.

Regarding the global development of the wine industry, China has gained a notable share in terms of wine consumption, and its domestic wine production has increased steadily since 2000. However, vertical coordination in the Chinese wine regions has received little attention. The study provides a first insight into the grape market structures, as very little is known.

The paper seeks to explore Kant's formulations on universal good will, perfect moral order, and universal peace, and the notion that the world's citizenship should be organised in a federated system of states, free to choose their own universal laws.

This theoretical discussion is pursued in two separate sections. The first section reviews leading regulation theories that explain how governments in their decision‐making capacity engage in regulation at macro‐level of the entire socio‐economic system. The second section follows from this argument and discusses the governance theory and alternative governance mechanisms designed and employed by governments to manage the strategic behaviour of the individual economic actors at mezzo‐ and micro‐level of contract relationships.

The paper discusses some of the current theories that underpin the analysis and interpretation of public administration practice, or public governance in different socio‐economic systems. The paper looks at some of the dominant postulates of regulation and governance, and question to what extent they can be accepted as universal principles in line with Kant's argumentation. Different types of governance mechanisms are compared and contrasted in the context of strategic actors such as: the public government as a regulating authority and the firms as regulated economic actors.

The argument in this paper is that governments as regulators of national socio‐economic systems are strategic actors in their capacity to actively shape the regulatory environment, implementing various coordination mechanisms that facilitate the functioning of the economy and the society. The paper attempts to make some ethical judgements on market imperfections and government imperfections in line with Kant's concept of universal moral order.

The key to success in the internet business lies in how you carry out the integration between virtual and physical channels. The purpose of this paper is to aim at defining the solution to the integration.

Channel coordination is grounded on a new governance of integration strategy which bridges the channels. This study proposes a novel research model with three stages: first, click-and-brick strategies; second, channel coordination for three purchase stages; and third, synergy realizations. A survey was conducted for collecting empirical data. PLS was used for path analysis. In total, three separate statistical analyses were performed for three defined integration strategies.

Click-and-brick strategies have different degrees of impact on channel coordination in different purchase stages and in turn, different degrees of impact on synergy benefits. Specifically, the in-house division strategy is more important in determining channel coordination in the three purchase stages.

Customers initially perceive online services with a nature of low trust and view them as highly risky. This integration is useful for a firm to successfully start a new online business. Further, it provides insight into allocating a firm’s resources to critical multi-channel activities to realize synergy benefits.

Multi-channel marketing is dynamic and complex in nature. Existing theories provide limited insight into effectively defining them. This study attempted to define a strategy-based implementation model. This model demonstrated the capability to effectively reduce the complexity of defining channel integration.

This study aims to examine the relationship between market orientation and product innovation and the mediating role of technological capability in this relationship. It also aims to examine the effect of market orientation on product innovation within the framework of technological intensity classification of the fields of business activity.

The research data were obtained from 186 senior and mid-level managers of 627 manufacturing firms that are widely considered to be innovative, and that are ranked among Turkey's largest 1,000 manufacturing firms (ISO 1000). The data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling.

Customer orientation and interfunctional coordination, two distinct dimensions of market orientation, had positive effects on product innovation. Technological capability played a mediating role in the effect of customer orientation and interfunctional coordination on product innovation. In addition, interfunctional coordination positively affected product innovation in firms with low technological intensity, whereas customer orientation positively affected product innovation in firms with medium-high technological intensity.

For the success of product innovations, firms should establish mechanisms to obtain information about customer needs and expectations and to disseminate and effectively use this information among organizational functions. They also need to improve their technological capabilities to effectively transform market knowledge into product innovation.

The relationship between market orientation and product innovation has been examined in previous studies; however, there is an insufficient number of studies on the mediating role of technological capability in this relationship. This study aimed to eliminate the gap in the literature regarding the mediating role of technological capability. In addition, innovation activities of firms vary depending on the technological intensity, but only a limited number of evaluations have been conducted on this subject. This study contributes valuable knowledge to the relevant literature by examining the impact of market orientation dimensions on product innovation according to technological intensity.