Managing triadic supplier relationships in collaborative innovation projects: a relational view perspective

Purpose Suppliers are essential partners in innovation projects, as they own resources, knowledge assets and capabilities that complement those of buying firms. In today’s competitive environment, firms may choose to collaborate with suppliers beyond dyads, forming triadic or three-party relationships. Using the theoretical lens of the relational view (RV), this study aims to explore what type of triad configurations firms use to govern supplier relationships in collaborative innovation projects, how they choose to share resources and implications for project performance. Design/methodology/approach The authors use interview data from buyers and suppliers in six case studies of firms involved in ten collaborative innovation projects. The four constructs of the RV are used to observe how firms govern triadic relationships, combine complementary resources, invest in relationship-specific assets and manage information and knowledge exchange with and between suppliers in innovation projects. Findings Four archetypes of triadic relationships in innovation projects – labeled Triangle, A-frame, D-Frame and Line – are presented and characterized in terms of their structural and relational features. The authors discuss how each triad archetype is applicable to different innovation projects according to specific project characteristics. Originality/value This study is pioneering in its empirical examination of triadic relationships in collaborative innovation projects. It provides a novel typology of four archetypes of triad from the perspective of collaborative relationships with suppliers. Through applying the RV, it advances understanding of how triadic relationships are governed, how they invest in relationship-specific assets, how they combine complementary resources and how they exchange knowledge and information in each type of triad appropriate to different innovation project settings. To date, much of the extant literature has focused on dyads.

Comparison of Japanese and Scottish Mother–Infant Intersubjectivity: Resonance of Timing, Anticipation, and Empathy During Feeding

Feeding involves communication between mothers and infants and requires precise synchrony in a special triadic relationship with the food. It is deeply related to their intersubjectivity. This study compared the development of mother–infant intersubjectivity through interactional synchrony in feeding between 11 Japanese and 10 Scottish mother–infant dyads, observed at 6 and 9 months by video. Japanese mothers were more deliberate in feeding at an earlier age, whereas Scottish mothers were significantly more coercive than Japanese mothers at an earlier age. Japanese mothers brought the spoon to infants with a pause to adjust the timing of insertion to match their infants’ readiness, whereas this pause was not observed in Scottish mothers. Isomorphic mouth opening between mothers and infants was observed. This empathic maternal display is an important element of intersubjectivity in infant feeding that differed between Scottish and Japanese mothers. Scottish mothers’ mouth opening always followed their infants’ mouth opening, but about half of Japanese mothers preceded their infants. Further, the mouths of Scottish infants and mothers opened almost at the same time as spoon insertion. In contrast, Japanese mothers’ mouth opening did not co-occur with the insertion but was close to spoon arrival, a subtle but important difference that allows for greater infant autonomy. The time structure of Scottish mother-infant interactions was simpler and more predictable at 9 months than in Japan, where the structure was more variable, likely due to a stronger regulation by Scottish mothers. In conclusion, Scottish mother-infant intersubjectivity is characterized as more maternally reactive and mother-centered, whereas Japanese mother-infant intersubjectivity is characterized as more maternally empathetic and infant-centered. Cultural differences in intersubjectivity during feeding between Japan and Scotland are further discussed in relation to triadic relationships and parenting styles.

How Trust Leads to Commitment on Microsourcing Platforms: Unraveling the Effects of Governance and Third-Party Mechanisms on Triadic Microsourcing Relationships

IS research has extensively examined the role of trust in client-vendor relationships, as well as the role of governance in information technology (IT) outsourcing, but little research has been carried out on the latest manifestation of outsourcing—namely, microsourcing, i.e., the sourcing of smaller scale projects. To extend the literature on the traditional IT outsourcing literature—a stream that largely focuses on medium-to-large scale offline projects—we investigate how to develop trust and commitment in a triadic microsourcing relationship which includes the microsourcer, the microsourcee, and the microsourcing platform (MP). We draw on transaction cost economics (TCE) to theorize a model specifically adapted to the microsourcing phenomenon to scrutinize the influences of formal contractual mechanisms, relational mechanisms, and third-party mechanisms. Combining data from a matched sample of microsourcers and microsourcees on the leading Chinese MP, Zbj.com, the paper deploys degree-symmetric modeling (DSM) for construct conceptualization, measurement, and data analysis. DSM is consistent with the holistic view used to develop the research model for triadic relationships. Findings confirm that the MP is critical in delivering governance mechanisms to ensure the development of triadic trust and commitment. The results suggest that researchers and practitioners should pay closer attention to triadic trust and commitment building through proper governance mechanisms in the online microsourcing marketplace. We argue that this work could be extended to other online digital platforms that involve multiple transacting parties.

Social Innovation, Societal Change, and the Role of Policies

Political frameworks and policies have a strong influence on the institutional ecosystem and on governance patterns, which in turn shape the operational space of civil society initiatives. This article aims to explore the social and institutional conditions and policy initiatives that foster or hinder social innovation and the pathways leading from social innovation to institutional change through to actual impacts on policies and political frameworks, in order to understand how policymakers can encourage and enable social innovation. The article builds on an extensive empirical background to develop a heuristic model to facilitate decision making for a policy environment propitious for the emergence of social innovation. The resulting model sets up a triadic configuration of (i) a committed core of key actors, (ii) the benevolent shadow of hierarchy represented by public actors, and (iii) multifunctional and malleable intermediary support structures for a successful development of social innovation initiatives. The model is discussed and validated by reference to three in-depth case studies from differing institutional settings. We conclude that policy should recognize that social innovation will achieve most when the triadic relationships between the state, intermediary organizations, and local actors are working together synergistically.

Preparing students for service-learning and social entrepreneurship experiences

A critical feature of contemporary models of civic engagement is mutually-beneficial collaboration between campus and community partners, in which all members contribute skills and experience to co-create knowledge. At any given time, multiple relationships require attention – for example, triadic relationships between students, faculty, and staff of community organizations. This model is relevant for both service-learning (SL) and social entrepreneurship (SE), as both seek to work with community partners or in the community to address challenges facing the community. To date, research involving students has focused on the impact of these learning opportunities on student development (e.g., academics, civic participation). For students to be true partners in SL and SE projects, however, we need to understand the reciprocity of these interactions, particularly how to prepare students can become collaborators in developing campus-community partnerships (i.e., participatory readiness). To promote participatory readiness among students, we argue for a competency-based framework that integrates research and recommendations from the fields of service-learning, social entrepreneurship, and educational leadership. Throughout the article, we discuss similarities and differences in SL and SE practices and draw attention to the implications of the work for community engagement and pedagogy in higher education.

Neo-Riemannian Theory at the Movies

This chapter is dedicated to explaining the methodology of neo-Riemannian theory (NRT) and analysis. The historical background of NRT is introduced, and an inventory of transformations, including the well-known neo-Riemannian operators (L, P, and R) is laid out in a user-friendly manner. Important issues for NRT, including harmonic combinatoriality, parsimony, tonal agnosticism, and spatiality, are all introduced and connected to the analysis of film music. Special attention is given to the associative content of triadic relationships, with two progressions of particular interest to film composers—T6 and S—explored in depth. A pair of step-by-step model analyses from Waltz with Bashir and Batman: Mask of the Phantasm are presented as straightforward and difficult cases for neo-Riemannian techniques, respectively. The chapter concludes with the introduction of tonal space visualizations, such as the Tonnetz and transformation networks, and demonstrations through analysis of themes from The Da Vinci Code and Scott of the Antarctic.