Collaboration, Coordination, and Cooperation Among Organizations: Establishing the Distinctive Meanings of These Terms Through a Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Collaboration, coordination, and cooperation lie at the core of interorganizational activities. To address the confusion regarding the definitions of these three terms, recent works have proposed redefinitions. Although these proposals address an important concern, we believe that they might be premature because (1) they do not build on a systematic examination of how these terms have been used in the literature and (2) they seem to narrow the focus to a given theory and alliances only, which might unduly restrict the meaning of the terms defined. In this paper, we review the definitions of the three terms as they appear in nine top journals in the general management literature (1948-2017). By studying the definitions, we identify three interactional dimensions that are present to different extents in collaboration, coordination, and cooperation: attitude, behavior, and outcome. Our systematic review confirms the confusion and lack of parsimony in the extant definitions. The overlap in the content of these dimensions across the three terms does not provide a basis for distinctively defining collaboration, coordination, and cooperation. Thus, we further draw on our review to identify two discriminating dimensions that allow us to distinguish these three terms: the temporal stage and the type of goal. Our review contributes to theoretical development by offering a conceptual redefinition of the three terms that renders them distinct and thus facilitates knowledge accumulation and theory development. Moreover, the set of interactional and discriminating dimensions generates a host of managerially relevant research questions about a wide range of interorganizational relationships.

Partnership-based business modelling as an opportunity in the context of globalisation and as a challenge for business models

“…Modern management approaches are also very different from the traditional approach to management processes: unconditional, pragmatic and only analytically based management of a company could jeopardize the sustainability of the company's operations [9]. This indicates the emergence of a new alternative management approach.…”

Processes Underlying Interfirm Cooperation

“…Several terms exist in the literature (e.g. interfirm cooperation, interfirm relationship, interfirm partnering, interorganizational relationship, interorganizational collaboration, interorganizational cooperation) that (almost) suggest the same phenomenon: short or long-term arrangements between independent business entities designed to generate mutually beneficial outcomes (Agostini, Nosella and Teshome, 2019;Castañer and Oliveira, 2020;Lahiri and Kedia, 2009;Lui, Wong and Liu, 2009;Majchrzak, Jarvenpaa and Bagherzadeh, 2015;Oliveira and Lumineau, 2019;Oliver, 1990). Such arrangements differ widely in scope and complexity.…”

“…In particular, authors will find the 'review' articles (e.g. Lupton, 2009, 2016;Castañer and Oliveira, 2020;Kale and Singh, 2009;Majchrzak, Jarvenpaa and Bagherzadeh, 2015;Nippa and Reuer, 2019;Oliveira and Lumineau, 2019;Parmigiani and Rivera-Santos, 2011) highly beneficial. We hope this introductory paper, in combination with the seven published special issue papers, will ignite scholarly passion for accomplishing more in-depth studies of IFC and the underlying processes.…”

Institutional Voids, Economic Adversity and Inter‐firm Cooperation in an Emerging Market: The Mediating Role of Government R&D Support

“…Thus, institutions provide the context for economic activities, stipulating the rules and guidelines related to economic exchanges (Blau, 1964). In the context of emerging markets, formal institutions are in a state of flux which makes inter-firm cooperation an effec-tive strategy for developing competitive advantage and addressing IVs (Castañer and Oliveira, 2020;Gulati, 1998;Khanna and Palepu, 2010). This paper utilizes institutional theory (North, 1990(North, , 1995Scott, 1995) to establish how IVs influence inter-firm cooperation in emerging markets.…”

“…However, the extant literature has not yet explored how IVs drive this decision-making and the underlying mediating and moderating factors leading to the formation of inter-firm cooperation. Thus, these issues remain underexplored (Castañer and Oliveira, 2020;Gulati, 1998). Inter-firm cooperation may be viewed as vital for emerging-market firms due to the presence of weak formal institutions (Ahuja and Yayavaram, 2011;Hiatt and Sine, 2014;Peng et al, 2009), as through such arrangements firms can have access to complementary resources and capabilities (Diestre and Rajagopalan, 2012;Gnyawali and Madhavan, 2001).…”