Organization Studies

Given the recent accumulation of research on inter-organizational relations and networks and the current fragmentation of the field, it is time to take stock and explore the achievements of, and future challenges for, this field of study. On the basis of a network analysis of the 158 articles on inter-organizational relations and networks that were published in four leading journals from 1980 to 1996, this paper empirically explores the linkages among, and configurations of, core theories and concepts underlying earlier empirical research on inter-organizational relations and networks. We identify core, as well as peripheral, areas of research interest in the field and point out areas of overlap and consolidation. Moreover, our empirical analysis shows that the field segments into four substantive research perspectives, namely social network, power and control, institutional, and institutional economics and strategy clusters. In sum, we suggest an innovative, empirically grounded approach towards a literature review that aims at a synopsis of a field of study and highlights possibly fruitful avenues for future research.

In this paper we use a multi-disciplinary perspective to identify two fundamental dimensions which characterize the structuring of inter-firm relations: contractual coordination and procedural coordination. Contractual coordination refers to the mutual exchange of rights among the parties involved. Procedural coordination refers to the mutual exchange of information among the parties. Through a quantitative meta-analysis of 32 empirical studies we show that both dimensions are influenced by the same underlying constructs; that they fulfil different but complementary roles in the governance of the relationship; and how their systemic fit impacts the performance of the relationship. These results are discussed to highlight their implications for the design of inter-organizational research.

Using a combination of institutional, systems contingency and ecological theory, this paper argues and empirically demonstrates that key founding characteristics of international alliances are embedded (interactively related) in one another. Specifically, the technical area of the alliance activity, the intended direction of product/knowledge flows among sponsors, and the administrative form of the alliances are shown to be interactively related. Further, the concept of embeddedness was combined with Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) and technological views to show two founding patterns. One pattern called Hybridization was consistent with technological explanations while the second called Dominance was suggested by TCE approaches. The new interactive relationships were identified in two large samples involving US, Japanese and European firms during a period from 1970 to 1989.

Contingent and institutional perspectives have been contrasted in order to explain the evolution of organization structures and inter-firm relations in the Italian and German machine-building industries, both of which were racked by a massive change in their competitive and technological environments. The result was an increasing similarity in their internal and external organization. The change was guided by an interplay of autonomous problem solving, mimetic isomorphism of fashionable practices and societal features. The different education and industrial relations systems appeared to be functionally equivalent. The task characteristics (type of strategy, the variability of customer demands, and technological complexity) were related to configurational and functional differentiation, the rigidity of functional specialization and the intensity of interfunctional coordination; the exceptionality of customer demands was related to features of the internal processes. Task characteristics were also related to the level of outsourcing and the mode of inter-firm coordination; the measurability of a supplier's performance was related to inter-firm coordination mechanisms. The characteristics of both internal and external organization affected each other.

This paper discusses the nature of industrial districts as effective organization modes and some of their claimed distinctive features, such as 'extended division of labour' and 'co-operation' as a rule governing inter-firm relationships. Over a period of 40 years, 24 local productive systems of SMEs in Italy are compared with respect to both economic and social characteristics. The 'canonical' features of the industrial district were only found in a few local systems and at certain periods of time. The model of the industrial district is not always associated with superior performance, and other typologies of local systems may show even better results.

The comparison also highlights different models of labour organization combined with different sets of socio-economic factors and apparently conflicting rules governing inter-firm relationships. Trust, 'confidence', co-operation, price, power and conflict as well as deceit may co-exist in the same typology of local system. These rules flow into one another as contingencies evolve in what appears to be a sort of biological pattern of evolution.

The relationship between the presence of numerous firms in an industrial district and district flexibility may be more complicated than current conceptualizations imply, as these are dominated almost exclusively by the argument that district firms are embedded in local social structures and that integration encourages innovation. On the basis of arguments from neo-institutional and ecological theory, I distinguish between Third Italian districts which change mainly through collective learning in a relatively stable population of firms and Marshallian districts which change mainly through the competitive replacement of relatively inert firms. I explore this distinction empirically with data on the relationship between district size and firm mortality rates in a textile district in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, from 1946 to 1993.