Gaining from vertical partnerships: knowledge transfer, relationship duration, and supplier performance improvement in the U.S. and Japanese automotive industries

• Published in: Strategic management journal Vol. 24; no. 4; pp. 293 - 316
• Main Authors: Kotabe, Masaaki, Martin, Xavier, Domoto, Hiroshi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 01.04.2003; John Wiley and Sons; Wiley; Wiley Periodicals Inc
• Subjects: Alliances; Applied sciences; Automobile industry; Automobile manufacturers; Automotive industries; Business structures; Collaboration; Communication; Competitive advantage; Cooperation; Corporate strategies; Design engineering; Economics; Exact sciences and technology; General aspects; interfirm collaboration; Japan; Knowledge; Knowledge management; knowledge transfer; Management; Management science; Performance technology; Product development; Purchasing; relation-specific assets; Strategic management; Strategic planning; strategic sourcing; Studies; Suppliers; Supply chain management; Technology transfer; U.S.A; Vendor supplier relations; vertical partnerships; United States > US; Japan; relation-specific assets; knowledge transfer; vertical partnerships; strategic sourcing; supply chain management; interfirm collaboration

We study sources of operational performance improvement in supplier partnerships. We argue that supplier performance will benefit most where time-bound relational assets have developed between a buyer and supplier and the firms exploit the resulting communication efficiency by transferring productiv...