Controlling Collaboration Between Firms

Shows how accounting information and control mechanisms are used in decision-making, planning and control at an inter-organizational level and how accounting tools and techniques may support the development and management of external relationships with strategic partners. In "global companies" the use of management control mechanisms has increasingly become decentralised from the management accounting department, this book covers these issues. In all functional areas (marketing, operations, human resources, etc.), those who are expected to be able to analyse and interpret accounting information collected from external partners, have to exercise cost control to ensure that profit targets are achieved and understand.• to understand the nature of collaborative partnerships and illustrate the variables that explain the choice of different control modes in the various contexts of cooperation;• to describe the characteristics of management accounting mechanisms for cross-boundary settings, such as collaborative programmes and budgets, inter-firm performance measurement systems and inter-organisational cost management techniques;• to describe empirical evidence on control choices, management accounting practices and on management accountants' roles in collaborative relationships;• to present a framework of control patterns and specific Accounting Information Network (AIN) configurations that provide some novel theoretical insights on inter-organisational accounting and control and some guidance to practitioners operating in inter-firm collaborative settings.

Named the Best Management Book of 2021 by strategy+business Named one of "this month's top titles" in the Financial Times in September 2021 Named to the longlist for the 2021 Outstanding Works of Literature (OWL) Award in the Management & Culture category A plan for conquering collaborative overload to drive performance and innovation, reduce burnout, and enhance well-being. Most organizations have created always-on work contexts that are burning people out and hurting performance rather than delivering productivity, innovation and engagement. Collaborative work consumes 85% of employees' time and is drifting earlier into the morning, later into the night, and deeper into the weekend. The dilemma is that we all need to collaborate more to create effective organizations and vibrant careers for ourselves. But conventional wisdom on teamwork and collaboration has created too much of the wrong kind of collaboration, which hurts our performance, health and overall well-being. In Beyond Collaboration Overload, Babson professor Rob Cross solves this paradox by showing how top performers who thrive at work collaborate in a more purposeful way that makes them 18-24% more efficient than their peers. Good collaborators are distinguished by the efficiency and intentionality of their collaboration—not the size of their network or the length of their workday. Through landmark research with more than 300 organizations, in-depth stories, and tools, Beyond Collaboration Overload will coach you to reclaim close to a day a week when you: Identify and challenge beliefs that lead you to collaborate too quickly Impose structure in your work to prevent unproductive collaboration Alter behaviors to create more efficient collaboration It then outlines how successful people invest this reclaimed time to: Cultivate a broad network—not a big one—for innovation and scale Energize others—a strong predictor of high performance Connect with others to reduce micro-stressors and enhance physical and mental well-being Cross' framework provides relief from the definitive problem of our age—dysfunctional collaboration at the expense of our performance, health and overall well-being.

In today’s competitive, globalized marketplace, the provision of services and products is a result of teamwork between several organizations. Relationships between organizations of any size are strategically important. If your supplier falls down at a crucial moment, it can have survival implications for your company or for other members of your supply chain. The management of these strategic assets cannot be left to chance and the same attention that you devote to finance, operations, HR, etc. must be applied to business relationships. Despite this, very few organizations focus on this or are even aware that they need to do it. Those that do are unsure how to do it. This is not helped by business schools that focus on either customer relationship management (CRM) or supplier relationship management (SRM) rather than collaboration between partners (Enterprise Relationship Management). This book is a unique "go-to" guide for all managers who should be looking at collaboration with other organizations as a new way to attain outstanding results that would not be achieved on their own. Currently, there is nothing else of this nature on the market. The book identifies relationship management as a pivotal management function. It presents a comprehensive, flexible, end-to-end management process that can be easily incorporated into the existing management structures. Further, they describe the crucial role of the relationship manager who is at the heart of the system and provides the drive to achieve high performance. Any company can tailor this discipline to the needs of its organization – whether an SME or a multi-national company selecting a new partner or managing existing relationships. This book covers the decision of whether or not to partner and with whom, the creation of an appropriate system of governance, the transition to operations, managing performance for continuous improvement, and, finally, controlled wind-up of the partnership. Throughout, diagrams to signpost the sequence of activities, checklists of important actions, and job-related worksheets are provided. In addition, there are numerous case studies in a variety of industries and public sectors that will be used as illustrations. Altogether these make this book ideally suitable for experienced managers as well as for training and induction purposes. Essentially, Implementing and Managing Collaborative Relationships: A Practical Guide for Managers shows managers how they can create and operate a simple and effective system of Enterprise Relationship Management that will enable them to maximize efficiency, resilience, innovation, and profitability.

Collaboration between organizations on different continents can raise issues of economic development, health, the environment, risk sharing, supply chain efficiency and human resource management. It is an activity that can touch upon almost every aspect of business and social life. In this notable text, the authors combine rigorous theory with practical examples to create a useful, practical, one-stop resource covering topics such as: the principles of the theory of collaborative advantage managing aims membership structures and dynamics issues of identity using the theory. The key features of the book include rich theory, drawn directly from practice, explained in simple language, and a coherently developed understanding of the challenges of collaboration, based on careful research. This significant text will be an invaluable reference for all students, academics and managers studying or working in collaboration.

Selected as a finalist for the 2018 Leonard L. Berry Marketing Book Award! Why do crucial business partnerships and alliances fail so often and how can you keep it from happening to you? Partnering with the Frenemy answers these questions, helping you anticipate, prevent, and solve the problems that lead close business relationships to implode. Drawing on cutting-edge research, Sandy Jap illuminates the widespread “frenemy” phenomenon in organizational partnerships, where partners who start as non-competitive “friends” become “enemies” over time. She identifies key economical and structural causes of “frenemization,” in which success creates imbalances in power dynamics, leading partners to generate resentment, contempt, and often direct competition. She also illuminates crucial social causes for partnership failure, where seemingly innocuous acts of interpersonal opportunism and “sins of omission” gradually poison collaboration. To support her insights, she offers numerous case studies, both ongoing and historical, including Samsung/Google, Martha Stewart/Macy’s, Oracle/Sun Microsystems, Best Buy/Apple, Calvin Klein/Warnaco, and Nike/Footlocker. Most important, she offers specific recommendations for avoiding problems, revitalizing weakening partnerships, and recognizing when a partnership can’t be saved. IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT CONTRACTS AND MONEY Understand how to better manage emotions, suspicions, and expectations from Day 1 WHAT YOU CAN LEARN FROM OTHERS’ FAILING PARTNERSHIPS Anticipate, prevent, and mitigate the core causes of business relationship failure RECOGNIZE PARTNERING “OPPORTUNISM” BEFORE IT DESTROYS COLLABORATION Fix partnering problems while you still can IT’S NOT A MARRIAGE: HOW TO BECOME COMFORTABLE SAYING GOODBYE Know when to end a partnership, and how to part as “friends”

Cooperation has become the leading strategy adopted by business and other organizations. It is taking on new forms that are adapted to changing market expectations and technological possibilities in the rapidly evolving business environment. This new edition of Cooperative Strategy provides a comprehensive view of the practical and theoretical literature concerning cooperative strategies, and the alliance and network organizational forms that are the enablers of these strategies. It takes the reader through the stages of developing a cooperative alliance, from choosing a cooperative form and selecting partners, to establishing an alliance and managing the process of cooperation. It examines cooperative strategies in different sectors as well as internationally, and discusses performance criteria and evolution of cooperation over time. With insights from internationally recognized experts on cooperative strategy, this book presents extensive research on the topic while also addressing practical issues of alliance management.

In the emerging new collaborative economic order, innovation is achieved by an integrated process of collaboration between policymakers, business and society. Often, the focus for this collaboration is at a regional level. Creating Collaborative Advantage examines the trends in innovation policy that reflect this new thinking and regional focus. This book develops the view that collaboration is one of many ways of organising a competitive economy. It asks how, when and where collaboration is a meaningful way of organisation. It explores collaboration at business level, business networks between companies, and a wider collaborative coalition between business and public authorities. It is not a manual, a 'how to do it', because there is no single straightforward universal model to replace current orthodoxy on economic development, but it will enable people to learn. The contributors to this unique book have been involved with the implementation of some of the most outstanding examples of collaborative approaches, it therefore gives an outstanding picture of diversity, inbuilt comparisons and contrast, and debate between the cases. The co-authors give their understanding of these issues, but the book tries to establish some common understandings and bring the concept of collaboration to a larger audience, and to increase interest in a field which requires further exploration. Policy makers, advisers and administrators at all levels of government, those involved in research and development, and business leaders and educators, will find this book invaluable, together with readers having an academic interest in the subject of innovation.

In an era when knowledge can travel with astonishing speed, the need for analysis of intellectual property (IP) law—and its focus on patents, trade secrets, trademarks, and issues of copyright—has never been greater. But as Robert M. Farley and Davida H. Isaacs stress in Patents for Power, we have long overlooked critical ties between IP law and one area of worldwide concern: military technology. This deft blend of case studies, theoretical analyses, and policy advice reveals the fundamental role of IP law in shaping how states create and transmit defense equipment and weaponry. The book probes two major issues: the effect of IP law on innovation itself and the effect of IP law on the international diffusion, or sharing, of technology. Discussing a range of inventions, from the AK-47 rifle to the B-29 Superfortress bomber to the MQ-1 Predator drone, the authors show how IP systems (or their lack) have impacted domestic and international relations across a number of countries, including the United States, Russia, China, and South Korea. The study finds, among other results, that while the open nature of the IP system may encourage industrial espionage like cyberwarfare, increased state uptake of IP law is helping to establish international standards for IP protection. This clear-eyed approach to law and national security is thus essential for anyone interested in history, political science, and legal studies.