What happened with the grandiose plans? Strategic plans and network realities in B2B interaction

Abstract

Research concerned with business relationships and organizational levels, respectively, has addressed companies' difficulties in realizing their strategies. Studies of business relationships explain this through actions and reactions among business partners. Organizational studies note gaps between strategic and operational organizational levels in perceptions and goals. This paper combines these perspectives to obtain new insights into why company strategies may not materialize. The purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss how actor bonds on various organizational levels in business relationships affect strategy realization. The paper shows that actors on similar organizational levels representing different companies may actually share more understandings and activities than actors within the same company. The paper contributes to research on dyadic business relationships by highlighting differences in perspectives on various organizational levels, adds insights into research studying organizations by including a business-relationship aspect, and increases understanding of why strategic plans sometimes fail to succeed.

Product development with multiple partners: Strategies and conflicts in networks

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How companies strategise deliberately in networks using strategic initiatives

“…The indirect inclusion of counterparts would suggest a more directed rather than co-operative process. By adopting a longitudinal perspective, a focus on strategic initiatives could develop beyond the 'planning stage' of the limited amount of work within IMP focused on deliberate strategy development (Baraldi et al, 2007;Harrison & Prenkert, 2009) to consider the ongoing challenges of implementation, such as the role of the operational layer (Awaleh 2008;Awaleh & Harrison, 2009;Øberg & Brege, 2009). …”

The character and significance of Nordic purchasing and supply management research: A systematic review of the literature

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