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The purpose of this paper is to introduce a special issue on entrepreneurship and service innovation, and to conceptualize the link between entrepreneurial orientation, innovation and entrepreneurship or new entry.

Analysis of secondary data.

Entrepreneurial orientation (EO), innovation (IN) and entrepreneurship are in a vital “triadic connect”, where EO supports innovation in organizations and innovation promotes new entry or new venture creation – a vehicle for commercialization of innovations.

There is a need for empirical validation of the linkages proposed in this conceptual paper.

This “triadic connect” between EO, IN and entrepreneurship or new entry is a source of or key driver of organizational performance (OP) and competitive advantage (CA).

The theorization and schematization of the “triadic connect” (i.e. EO–IN–NE link) and outcomes (namely, OP and CA) is presented.

The purpose of this paper is to deal with business-to-business distribution, with a strong focus on the relationships developed by a distributor with its customers and its producers.

This paper is based on an in-depth analysis of a wholesaler specialized in fresh fruit and vegetable distribution. Data were gathered on the basis of 18 in-depth interviews. An additional important work of second-order data analysis was also conducted (sector analyses; statistics; companies’ Web sites).

This paper qualifies the different stages a wholesaler goes through in the relationships with its suppliers on the one side and its customers on the other. This work also identifies the nature of the impact of one type of relationship (wholesalers/producers) on the other (wholesalers/customers).

The findings allow distribution firms to view distribution channels as places where they can have some latitude to find new positions other than the ones imposed by producers.

This research uses different concepts connected with triadic settings (dynamics, triggers and interconnectedness) and integrates them to provide a new perspective on how a business-to-business distributor can take a position in a distribution channel.

This paper explores how the procurement function initiates and develops relationships with social enterprises that are intended to induce social impact in the supply networks of for-profit firms.

The paper utilises an in-depth case study involving a focal company, first-tier supplier, nongovernmental organisation and four social enterprises.

Tension mitigation that arises between social and commercial logics occurs via individual relationships through building trust, dependency manipulation, monitoring and supplier development activities. Deeper insights are revealed when triadic relationships are viewed within a quadratic relationship configuration that enables better capturing the essence of supply networks.

The paper is based on a single case study, limiting empirical generalisability. Future research could consider multiple case studies to reveal different types of relationship configurations that induce social impact in supply networks.

Societal goals can be met while maintaining supply network economic performance if procurement involves a trusted third party such as a nongovernmental organisation and helps to develop social enterprises as suppliers.

The paper contributes to the sustainable supply chain management literature by reporting on a novel procurement approach for enhancing social sustainability through cooperation with social enterprises. The paper also contributes to supply network theory by demonstrating how exploring quadratic relationships can reveal novel relationship configurations within supply networks.

This conceptual paper aims to explore ecoliteracy in education as originated in Fritjof Capra's ongoing efforts to foster ecological awareness through schools. Future leaders as ecoliterate will have developed an enhanced perception, a sense of value‐judgment in experience and sustainable self and other relations.

The argument is supported by contemporary science of the complementary pairs as based on coordination dynamics.

The paper presents Capra's work positioning it alongside new “transdisciplinary education”. The paper argues for the critical examination of the particular structure of knowledge able to inform/develop ecoliteracy, as well as of the nature of educational leadership.

The paper revisits John Dewey's philosophy and his pragmatic inquiry as especially significant for developing ecological thinking and presents his method of deliberation as remarkably similar to “imaginative narrative”, one of the methodologies of futures studies.

Explores how entrepreneurial capability and identity are learned in the creative and media industries. This sector is of growing social and economic importance, and the majority of its employment and commercial activity takes place within small businesses. However, entrepreneurship in the creative industries and the related development of entrepreneurial skills are not well understood, and “mainstream” approaches cannot be assumed to be effective, therefore the development of a learning model is potentially valuable. Proposes a conceptual framework of entrepreneurial learning in the creative and media sector, based on a social learning perspective. This highlights the processes of entrepreneurial learning and identity formation, and features a triadic model with three major themes. Proposes a group of related sub‐themes and provides a set of reflective questions to assist in practical application of the model by educationalists, students and emerging entrepreneurs. Outlines the potential applications of the model in education and entrepreneurship development within and beyond the creative industries.

The purpose of this study is to identify the types and features of business relationship when the value co-creation phenomenon is extended to an early stage of the value chain, in which technological innovation is essential, in a high-tech business-to-business (B2B) market.

The methodology of building a theory from a case study is adopted in this study to propose an early-stage value co-creation network. Qualitative data are coded on the basis of grounded theory coding after collecting the triangulation data from multiple sources.

In a high-tech B2B market, three types of business relationships (supplier–customer mutual, supplier-centric and network-based business relationships) co-create values at an early stage of the value chain. Intellectual resource, efficiency resource and supplier-centric business relationships are uniquely found in this stage.

This study provides new insight suggesting that the notion of value co-creation can be extended to early stages of the value chain in a high-tech B2B market. In addition, this research identifies vital business relationships and how these relationships develop successfully at an early-stage value co-creation network in a high-tech B2B market.

Technology development managers at an early stage of the value chain can co-create relationship benefits by building proposed business relationships integrating resources in a high-tech B2B market. In addition, marketing managers should consider the early stage as another source of value co-creation.

The notion of value co-creation is extended from the later stage to an early stage of the value chain in a high-tech B2B market. Consolidated framework of a value co-creation network integrating actors, resources and relationships, suggested in this study, will be valuable for further theoretical research and business application.

This paper aims to develop the existing theoretical concept of a triad by informing it with the activity-resource-actor (ARA) model in a new empirical context of lean management (LM).

This conceptual paper draws on the industrial marketing and purchasing (IMP) school of thought and the ARA model as theoretical lenses to inform research on triads in an LM context.

The authors find that closed buyer-supplier-supplier (BSS) and buyer-supplier-logistics service provider (BSL) triads, which we call “lean triads,” had a positive impact on LM. The authors display the drivers for closure – LM improvements (Table 2) and the properties of these “lean triads” (Figure 3).

The paper focuses only on closed triads and is based on previous empirical studies.

The authors demonstrate to lean managers the drivers for connecting their partners in BSS and BSL triads and show the importance of developing relationships on three layers between all three actors in both triads to improve a firm’s lean performance.

The authors contribute to the discussion within the IMP school of thought on the value of triads by enriching the understanding of a triad concept with the ARA model, which compounds a concept of a multilayered triad in an LM context.

The purpose of this paper is to explore whether brokered network governance, run by the manufacturer, affects relational embeddedness and thus contributes to yielding the Coleman rent in the triadic supply chains.

Building upon the theoretical tenets of transaction cost analysis, complemented by the underpinnings of social capital theory, this study involves an empirical investigation that uses survey data collected from the triadic supply chains in Europe. The research covers a two-step analysis. In the first step, the Coleman rent was estimated through the regression analysis with the interaction effects. Then, partial least squares–structural equation modeling was used to estimate the reflective-formative nature of higher component model and test the research hypotheses.

The results of the study demonstrate that the distribution of three mechanisms in network governance is relatively even; however, market and hierarchy still emerge as the most impactful dimensions. Interestingly, though, this study shows that social capital can actually coexist with market and hierarchy in the triadic supply chains with the structural hole. Likewise, the research indicates that the impact of brokered network governance on the strength of network relational embeddedness is significant, but relatively weak, whereas network relational embeddedness has a strong and positive effect on the Coleman rent.

This study makes three major contributions. First, this study is one of very few that explicitly considers brokered network governance, run by the manufacturer positioned on the structural hole in its triadic supply chain. Second, as the triadic perspective is still uncommon in the supply chain studies, this research investigates a triad with the structural hole within the manufacturing setting. Third, the paper seeks to investigate the ability to yield the Coleman rent in the triadic supply chains with the structural hole, although this type of rent is typically linked to another arrangement called closure.

Given the increasing attention paid to the role of social capital within supply chains, this study investigates how relational embeddedness can be used by the manufacturer, sitting on the structural hole and running the network governance mechanism, to yield the Coleman rent in the triadic supply chain.

This study aims to investigate the link between manufacturer relational embeddedness, manufacturer influence and supplier-customer relational embeddedness and their resulting impact on the network rent.

Leveraging the theoretical lens of social exchange theory and the relational view and utilizing the survey data derived from the transitional triadic supply chains, the authors used multiple regression analysis and the partial least squares (PLS) path model. The regression analysis with interaction effects is used to indicate the network rent, while the PLS path model is applied to investigate the link between manufacturer relational embeddedness, manufacturer influence and supplier-customer relational embeddedness and their subsequent impact on the network rent.

The authors empirically establish that manufacturer relational embeddedness, as a higher-order factor, can comprise both upstream and downstream relational embeddedness. The research also demonstrates that manufacturer relational embeddedness significantly contributes to the manufacturer’s eagerness to form a direct link between the supplier and the customer, and the manufacturers report a significant ability to affect this relationship. Likewise, the study shows that supplier-customer relational embeddedness significantly and positively affects the network rent. In addition, the study implies that supplier-customer relational embeddedness is a mediator between manufacturer influence and the network rent, while manufacturer influence is a suppressor variable, which increases the negative relationship between manufacturer relational embeddedness and supplier-customer relational embeddedness.

The research makes three key contributions. First, this study, as one of very few, simultaneously embraces context, intervention, mechanism and outcome, while investigating the role of manufacturer (its relational embeddedness and influence) in promoting supplier-customer relational embeddedness, and its resulting effect on the network rent. Further on, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirically based study that demonstrates to what extent the manufacturer is capable of fostering supplier-customer relational embeddedness, thus favoring the transposition from the intransitive into the transitive triadic supply chains. Finally, to date, the concept of network rent has been mostly conceptualized as the theoretical construct with no empirical evidence. This research offers guidance for manufacturers in managing the relationships between the supplier and the customer to yield the highest network rent.

This study provides a novel approach to investigating the role of manufacturer and relational embeddedness in yielding the network rent in the transitional triadic supply chains.

This paper aims to improve the knowledge of the way business relationships end by using a triadic analysis. Triadic analysis is used as a tool, permitting the examination of a dyadic business relationship in relation to a third actor(s). The triadic approach has been chosen for two reasons: first, because a triad is the smallest possible network and so offers a network perspective on the phenomenon. Second, the triadic approach exposes the process of forming internal and external coalitions, which affects the course of events and, thus, offers a different perspective from the traditional dyadic one on the dissolution of business relationships.

As adopting a triadic perspective on the ending of business relationships and the field of research are relatively new, data gathering and empirical findings play an important role in producing understanding of the phenomenon. This qualitative research uses the abductive approach, in which empirical findings are systematically combined with the theoretical literature related to the topic. The research also draws from the theoretical literature of ending dyadic business relationships and uses a body of literature from the field of sociology where triadic analysis has long been used.

As the result, this paper presents a model describing the end of a triadic business relationship and details the characteristics that derive from a triadic perspective. The study answers questions on what kind of process takes place when a triadic business relationship is ending; what kinds of sub-processes can be identified; and also adds information on what kinds of coalitions companies may form during the ending process of a triadic business relationship. The findings suggest that triadic analysis is an appropriate tool when studying a dyadic business relationship in relation to third actors.

The research offers a new insight into the phenomenon of ending business relationships by using a triadic perspective.