The supply chain management philosophy stresses that maximizing service to customers of choice at the lowest total cost requires a strong commitment to close relationships among trading partners. The philosophy requires a movement away from arms-length interactions toward longer term, partnership-type arrangements to create highly competitive supply chains. It is generally believed that increased collaboration among supply chain participants leads to lower total cost and enhanced service performance.1 Ideally, collaboration begins with customers and extends back through the firm from finished goods distribution to manufacturing and raw material procurement, as well as to material and service suppliers. Thus, integration is needed both internally (intraorganizationally) and externally (interorganizationally).2 Although cost savings from reduced operational duplication and redundancy are important, the focus of this research is the relationship between collaboration and service improvement.Both the popular press and academic research focus on the importance and frequency of collaborative action, and the role of collaboration in overall business performance.3 Much of this work is prescriptive, whereas our study develops and tests measures to examine empirically the relationships between internal and external supply chain collaboration and logistical performance. Post hoc analyses offer further insights. BACKGROUND

Purpose -Collaboration has been referred to as the driving force behind effective supply chain management and may be the ultimate core capability. However, there is a fairly widespread belief that few firms have truly capitalized on its potential. A study was undertaken to assess the current level of supply chain collaboration and identify best practice. Design/methodology/approach -Supply chain executives provided insights into collaboration. Survey data, personal interviews, and a review of the collaboration literature were used to develop a conceptual model profiling behavior, culture, and relational interactions associated with successful collaboration. Findings -Positive collaboration-related outcomes include enhancements to efficiency, effectiveness, and market positions for the respondents' firms.Research limitations/implications -The small sample size represents a limitation, but is balanced by the quality of the respondent base and their expertise/experience. Another limitation involves securing input from only one party to the collaborative relationships. Developing a longitudinal study would help determine how collaboration-related factors and relationships change over time. Practical implications -Several respondents mentioned a "blurring of lines" between organizations contrasted to an "us vs them" approach. This was expressed in a number of different ways -treating the arrangements as if they both were part of the same operation, treating them as co-owned, and employing a new focus on the best common solution. Many of the respondents indicating rewards are not distributed evenly still admitted they get enough "out of" the collaborative arrangements to make it worthwhile. Originality/value -Real-world practical experiences are recounted involving many of today's top companies.

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a b s t r a c tThe current empirical study examines the intention to use and subsequent implementation of a supply chain technology. Specifically, the authors extend the technology acceptance model (TAM) to incorporate the state of the technology environment (technological turbulence) and the extent to which other supply chain technologies have already been adopted by the firm (technological breadth). A series of seemingly unrelated regressions (SUR) were used to analyze survey data from 195 respondents. The results show that in technologically turbulent environments, the relationships between the firm's perceived usefulness and ease of use and the firm's intention to use a supply chain technology are stronger. The study also finds that the relationship between the firm's intention to use a supply chain technology and the implementation of the technology is weaker in firms with greater technological breadth.