Work-in-progress paper for 18 th Annual IMP Conference Innovation through Networks : Technology and Cooperative Relationships (original) (raw)

Buyer-supplier collaboration during emerging technology development

Production Planning and Control, 2020

The purpose of this paper is to understand how buyers and suppliers collaborate during the development of emerging technologies. Using the relational view, the paper examines a high technology aerospace firm as it develops additive manufacturing technology with two suppliers. Data collected from 46 interviews with senior managers, middle managers and operational employees are triangulated using 8 focus groups and secondary company documentation. It is found that the radical novelty and high degree of technological uncertainty associated with emerging technologies leads to a small pool of capable suppliers, limited machine capacity and constrained raw material supply. Companies therefore turn to University Technology Centres (UTCs) to incubate new ideas and test prototypes before involving suppliers in development efforts. Companies also seek out government funded catapult centres where buyers, suppliers and customers are co-located in a single facility, allowing them to interact and share knowledge on a regular basis. The study contributes to the relational view by identifying that regular interaction within collaborative relationships does not necessarily lead to knowledge spill-overs between buyers and suppliers during the development of emerging technologies. Instead, the study finds that knowledge exchange is facilitated when suppliers have the freedom to use intellectual property in non-competing industries and have guarantees of future business that allow them to invest in machine capacity and raw material supply. Managers are provided with an empirically informed framework for buyer-supplier collaboration during emerging technology development.

Types of embedded ties in buyer-supplier relationships and their combined effects on innovation performance

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 2016

Purpose – This paper aims to analyze the impact of three types of embedded ties, namely, specialized complementary resources, idiosyncratic investments and knowledge sharing, on the innovation capacity of firms. It also examines the particularities of the machine-tool industry. Design/methodology/approach – The evaluation of the embedded buyer-supplier ties is based on the potential sources of relational rents proposed by Dyer and Singh (1998). It also draws on Uzzi and Lancaster (2003) and Noordhoff et al. (2011), among others, to discuss the positive and negative aspects of embedded ties. Using data from a survey of 202 European machine-tool firms acting as buyers and sellers, the study proposes and evaluates a structural equation model. Findings – Only knowledge-sharing routines exert a significant positive effect on product innovation performance. Neither an increase in idiosyncratic investments nor in complementary resources and capabilities enhances innovation performance. Mor...

Innovation Cooperation: Buyer-Supplier Relations

Theory, Methodology, Practice

The business marketing literature of the past few years has mostly examined business relationships on a value basis. In addition to the strategic importance of relationships with customers, cooperation with suppliers is also a priority. Relationships have shifted from aggressive, competitive, superficial relationships with many suppliers to long-term partnerships with fewer suppliers. Using two-step research -a case study and questionnaire survey conducted in Hungary -this paper examines how the extent of the buyer's contribution affect the success of the innovation market and how this depends on the supplier's innovation value.

Collaborative buyer-supplier relation and the formation of centralised networks

Geoforum, 1996

Much of Western European and North American industry has been restructuring its supplier relations, introducing innovations such as JIT delivery, increased outsourcing and collaborative buyer-supplier relations. There is now a growing literature on the extent and general spatial implications of changing buyersupplier relations in the U.K. There is less evidence of the extent and form of collaborative inter-firm relations in the U.K. This paper provides some initial findings of the extent and form of collaborative buyer-supplier relations on processes of technology transfer. It draws on the results of surveys of electronics original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and firms in their main supply industries in two contrasting study areas. The research findings suggest that there is, as yet, an absence of real depth in collaborative buyer-supplier relations. Furthermore, there are signs that the collaboration which is taking place appears to be concentrated between OEMs and suppliers with superior functional capabilities.

Directionality in collaborative innovation: governing inter-firm relationships in the supply-chain

Academy of Management Proceedings, 2018

This paper investigates the link between how firms govern the relationships with their counterparts in vertical networks and the likelihood of developing product and/or process innovation by reporting the results of a survey on Italian automotive suppliers. Results show that actors do not select coordination mechanisms according to the type of innovation activity carried out. Conversely, different patterns of governance emerge if one distinguishes between companies transacting downstream (e.g. a second tier supplier selling their components/systems to a first tier one) and upstream (e.g. a second tier supplier buying component/system by a third tier one). In the first case, firms are more likely to innovate with their counterpart when adopting contractual governance tools. In the second case, companies innovate with their counterpart when ?trust? and ?trust building practices? are in place.

Centrality of customer and supplier interaction in innovation

Journal of Business Research, 2006

This paper evaluates the assumption that interaction within customer-supplier relationships is always the pivotal point for innovation. It argues that the relevance of customer and supplier relationships depends on the nature and maturity of the technology being developed, thus exploring the potential variation in customer-supplier interactions during different phases of the innovation life cycle. The paper commences with a brief introduction to the literature and then uses the findings from an exploratory set of interviews to illustrate the premise of the paper. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the findings and outlines the plans for the next stage of the research.

Cooperating with technologically (dis)similar alliance partners: the influence of the technology life cycle and the impact on innovative and market performance

Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, 2015

In this paper, we investigate the cooperative relationships of innovating firms with (dis)similar partners during the technology life cycle. We test the impact of such cooperative relationships on the innovative and market performance of these firms. To do so, we use a sample of 83 Application Specific Integrated Circuit firms over the period 1986-2005. We find that working with partners that are technologically similar improves innovative and market performance early on in the technology life cycle. Working with partners that are technologically dissimilar improves innovative and market performance later on in the technology life cycle. These results indicate that innovating firms have to change their partnership from technologically similar towards technologically dissimilar over the technology life cycle.

Building relationships for technological innovation

Journal of Business Research, 2005

Because the construction industry often is characterised by adversarial relations, the corresponding lack of cooperation has been seen as a major contributing cause for the low level of innovation in the construction industry. Therefore, many initiatives try to address the lack of innovation by attempting to increase cooperation between companies.

The joint evolution of alliance networks and technology: A survey of the empirical literature

Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 2013

In this paper, we provide an overview and assessment of existing empirical literature on the joint evolution of alliance networks and technology. We selected 38 empirical studies that investigate this joint evolution and summarize their results based on the variables they address, representing the composition and structure of the alliance networks and the technology development. We find that most of the results regarding network variables and their effect on technology development are either missing, inconsistent or difficult to compare because of different industry contexts. In most studies, the measurement of technology developmentthe technology life cycleis either neglected or not carried out systematically. The more complex structural network variables, such as tie strength, structural holes or structural equivalence, receive little attention. We conclude that the body of knowledge of the joint evolution of alliance network and technology is growing, but not in a systematic way. We identify a clear need for further systematic research into the co-evolutionary aspects of the relationship between alliance networks and technology.