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This study aims to investigate the conflicting views in supply chain and strategic management literature regarding cooperative supply chain relationships (CSCR) and firm performance. Supply chain literature suggests a universally positive impact of CSCR on performance, irrespective of a firm’s strategy. In contrast, strategic management literature contends that the effectiveness of CSCR depends on their alignment with the firm’s competitive strategy. The research aims to clarify this disparity, offering insights into the strategic use of CSCR for enhancing firm performance.

This paper theorizes the integration of perspectives for the impact of CSCR on firm performance by examining the relationships considering the alignment of cost leadership and product differentiation strategies with supplier and customer relationships. Plant-level survey data is analyzed using regression techniques to test four hypotheses.

All four main relationships (cost leadership, product differentiation, supplier relationship and customer relationship) on firm performance are statistically significant. However, cost leadership firms are better aligned to their chosen strategy when they have strong relationships with suppliers, whereas similar relationships with customers create misalignment, negatively influencing firm performance. In contrast, product differentiators benefit by investing in relationships with customers rather than with suppliers.

A firm’s performance does not solely depend on its CSCR efforts but on aligning them with the firm’s overall strategy. Therefore, managers need to be cognizant of the firm’s competitive strategy when investing in CSCR. Failing to do so could negatively impact firm performance and, eventually, its ability to compete in the marketplace.

Scholars have advocated for the importance of examining competing perspectives of phenomena, both within and across various bodies of literature, as cross-disciplinary analysis often brings enhanced focus and depth, leading to improved understanding. This research is one of the initial efforts to empirically analyze the varying perspectives on CSCR in supply chain and strategic management literature. This cross-disciplinary approach can yield a more integrated perspective.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a new way to distinguish a firm’s dynamic capabilities from operational capabilities.

Conceptual paper/literature review.

Current literature on dynamic capabilities posits that dynamic capabilities are those firm capabilities that can induce change in other capabilities, while operational capabilities are static. Distinguishing between these capabilities in this manner is not helpful because changes occur continuously in all capabilities to at least some extent. In addition, empirical studies show that even task-level operational capabilities can change on their own and can induce change in other capabilities. In contrast to focussing on the presence or lack of change to determine if a capability is dynamic or operational, this paper distinguishes between them by determining a priori the expected nature of the outcome. By focussing on the outcomes of change rather than the changes themselves, this paper proposes that capabilities should be considered operational if they produce outcomes that can be predicted using probability distribution while those capabilities that produce outcomes that cannot be predicted using probability distribution should be considered dynamic.

Future research on dynamic capabilities should not only investigate whether or not change is occurring, but the outcome of change to understand whether a change is precipitated by dynamic or operational capabilities.

Existing dynamic capabilities literature is unclear about how to distinguish between dynamic capabilities from operational capabilities. Previous research attempts to distinguish these capabilities by arguing dynamic capabilities are those firm capabilities that can induce change in other capabilities, while operational capabilities are static and do not induce change. This is not particularly helpful. A clear distinction between dynamic and operational capabilities could facilitate further advancement of the dynamic capability literature; this study makes a rudimentary effort to distinguish between them.

This paper aims to examine the interrelationships among cooperative relationships (CRs), mass customization (MC), and organizational performance using structural equation modeling (SEM) methodology.

The research framework investigates the mediating roles of MC in enhancing organizational performance. The CRs are the drivers in the model. CRs can be measured using two sub‐constructs – customer integration (CI) and supplier integration (SI). The surveyed data are collected from 220 manufacturing firms. The SEM methodology is used to develop valid and reliable instruments to measure these constructs and test the hypothesized relationships described in the framework.

The results reveal that firms with high levels of CI were more successful at MC compared to those with low levels of integration. Firms that involve customers in the creation of goods and services might have the ability to understand and respond to customer needs quickly, thereby enabling them to reduce the inherent risks of innovation. As a result, they are more likely to include only those product functions that add value to end‐users, thereby enabling them to reduce product costs.

This study does not find a direct link between SI and MC. SI may be moderated by buyers and suppliers core competences and type of business in which they compete. Therefore, a future study examining a moderating relationship between the two might be fruitful. Researchers may be required to include not only the type of business of sample firms, but also the position they occupy in the supply chain.

The firms with higher level of CI would have an ability to understand customer preferences, thereby, enabling them to process customized products at low cost (MC).

The paper measures and validates the measurement for CRs which can be applied to research in supply chain management area.

From the dedication–constraint perspective, this study aims to complement ongoing discussions on the effects of switching costs on performance and explain the role of customer involvement and relationship quality in the relationship between switching costs and performance.

After collecting data from Chinese manufacturing firms, the authors employed structural equation modeling to test their theoretical model incorporating switching costs, new product development performance, relationship quality and customer involvement.

The findings show that switching costs negatively affect three dimensions of new product development performance covering new product development market performance, new product development speed, new product development cost. More importantly, relationship quality positively moderates the relationship between switching costs and new product development performance, while customer involvement takes positive moderation effects.

These conclusions contribute to the knowledge of switching costs and supplier–customer relationship, and provide theoretical contributions and managerial insights for both academics and practitioners.