We use a longitudinal examination of the production of a complex vessel to develop theory concerning operational flexibility behaviors within interorganizational projects. We find that operational flexibility behaviors are enabled by trust between project participants, sense of urgency, and the availability of resources. These enablers are in turn positively influenced by positive experiences in previous interactions (“shadow of the past”) and expectations of possible future collaboration (“shadow of the future”), the temporary nature of interorganizational projects and slack in project tasks, respectively. The positive effect of enablers on operational flexibility is weakened by the time pressure project participants experience. The latter is also caused by the temporariness of interorganizational projects. Based on our findings, we propose that the different time dimensions play a crucial role in explaining flexibility behaviors in interorganizational projects: the temporariness that is an essential characteristic of interorganizational projects has two potentially opposite effects on the behavior of its participants, and we argue that shadows of the past and future play a decisive role in which of the two effects will dominate. The theoretical framework based on our case study suggests that the temporariness of interorganizational projects is indeed important—as acknowledged in the literature—but that its effect is contingent on shadows of past and future.
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The Dutch shipbuilding industry has a longstanding tradition in project-based production. Recently, industry actors have acknowledged a serious misfit between interorganizational project practices, defined as behaviors related to collaboration, and interorganizational project demands, defined as environmental conditions. This misfit leads to a weaker competitive position due to higher communication and production costs, and longer production times. However, the causes of this misfit remain unclear. Among project researchers there is a growing awareness that history has a major influence on contemporary practices in interorganizational projects, suggesting that some of the causes of the present-day misfit may be rooted in the past. This paper studies historical developments of interorganizational project practices in Dutch shipbuilding projects, in order to understand to what extent contemporary misfit in project practices is rooted in the past and results from path dependencies and lock-ins. We answer the following research question: How did interorganizational project practices and demands in the Dutch shipbuilding industry develop between 1950 and 2010 and to what extent do these developments help us understand the current misfit between project practices and demands? Our results show that a web of self-reinforcing mechanisms at least partially explains the current misfit in the Dutch shipbuilding industry. This paper answers to the conceptual call by Sydow et al. (2009) and supplements path dependence literature by showing that self-reinforcing mechanisms causing path dependence can be separated analytically, but are intertwined empirically.
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The role of conveners in initiating and/or leading the formation of cross-sector partnerships (CSPs) has received ample attention in the literature on partnership formation. However, what happens when two organizations jointly take up this role? This question is important in many complex partnerships, such as those on sustainable supply chains. We present a qualitative, longitudinal case study explaining how two organizations together convened the formation of a complex cross-sector partnership, and emphasize the changing roles of each organization individually and their shared relationship over time. We analyze how this process of ‘collective convening’ unfolded, how it impacted the collaboration, and how the conveners coped with the tensions brought about by the constellation of collective convening. These tensions manifested at the interorganizational level in the relationship between the two conveners, but were also fed by each convener’s organizational level dynamics, as these dynamics influenced the collective convening process. A paradox perspective is appropriate to analyze the tensions emerging from the collective convening process and the ensuing organizational response strategies. We contribute to the literature on CSPs by introducing and elaborating on the notion of ‘collective convening’, which reflects a reality in complex CSP formation but has remained largely unstudied in the existing literature on convening. Further, we show how conveners bring their organizational level dynamics to the interorganizational level and how these dynamics influence the CSP formation process in positive and negative ways.
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This research is dedicated to the study of marketing opportunities and consumer behavior, as well as the impact of technology on marketing relationships (eg, interorganizational, company-consumer). It is also in its interest to explore the form and nature of the entrepreneurial phenomenon beyond the contexts in which it can occur. A sub-area of specialization that has been deserving special interest is that of entrepreneurial skills. Another area of commitment is related to information systems and information technology with decision support in organizations.Partners: CAPES Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (Brazil), Federal University of Pernambuco (Brazil)
