Purpose

Suppliers are essential partners in innovation projects, as they own resources, knowledge assets and capabilities that complement those of buying firms. In today’s competitive environment, firms may choose to collaborate with suppliers beyond dyads, forming triadic or three-party relationships. Using the theoretical lens of the relational view (RV), this study aims to explore what type of triad configurations firms use to govern supplier relationships in collaborative innovation projects, how they choose to share resources and implications for project performance.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors use interview data from buyers and suppliers in six case studies of firms involved in ten collaborative innovation projects. The four constructs of the RV are used to observe how firms govern triadic relationships, combine complementary resources, invest in relationship-specific assets and manage information and knowledge exchange with and between suppliers in innovation projects.

Findings

Four archetypes of triadic relationships in innovation projects – labeled Triangle, A-frame, D-Frame and Line – are presented and characterized in terms of their structural and relational features. The authors discuss how each triad archetype is applicable to different innovation projects according to specific project characteristics.

Originality/value

This study is pioneering in its empirical examination of triadic relationships in collaborative innovation projects. It provides a novel typology of four archetypes of triad from the perspective of collaborative relationships with suppliers. Through applying the RV, it advances understanding of how triadic relationships are governed, how they invest in relationship-specific assets, how they combine complementary resources and how they exchange knowledge and information in each type of triad appropriate to different innovation project settings. To date, much of the extant literature has focused on dyads.

中文翻译：

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在协作创新项目中管理三元供应商关系：关系视角

目的

供应商是创新项目的重要合作伙伴，因为他们拥有与采购公司互补的资源、知识资产和能力。在当今竞争激烈的环境中，企业可能会选择与供应商合作，形成三方或三方关系。使用关系视图 (RV) 的理论视角，本研究旨在探讨公司使用何种类型的三元配置来管理协作创新项目中的供应商关系、他们如何选择共享资源以及对项目绩效的影响。

设计/方法/方法

作者在参与十个协作创新项目的公司的六个案例研究中使用了来自买家和供应商的访谈数据。RV 的四个结构用于观察公司如何管理三元关系、组合互补资源、投资于特定关系资产以及管理创新项目中供应商与供应商之间的信息和知识交换。

发现

创新项目中的四种三元关系原型——标记为三角形、A 框架、D 框架和线——根据它们的结构和关系特征进行了介绍和描述。作者讨论了每个三合会原型如何根据具体的项目特征适用于不同的创新项目。

原创性/价值

本研究在合作创新项目中对三元关系的实证检验方面具有开创性。从与供应商的合作关系的角度，它提供了四种三合会原型的新颖类型。通过应用 RV，它加深了对三元关系如何治理、它们如何投资于特定关系资产、它们如何组合互补资源以及它们如何在适合不同创新项目设置的每种三元关系中交换知识和信息的理解。迄今为止，许多现存的文献都集中在二元论上。