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Necessary Governing Practices for the Success (and Failure) of Client-Supplier Innovation Cooperation

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Innovation and Supply Chain Management

Part of the book series: Contributions to Management Science ((MANAGEMENT SC.))

Abstract

This chapter aims to empirically identify governance practices that are critical for the success of client-supplier innovation cooperation. To do so, we use Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA) to screen a large panel of contractual provisions and coordination practices that are theoretically recognized as influencing relationship performance. Based on survey data describing 160 client-supplier relationships on an innovation project, we empirically determine which of these practices are conducive to highest or lowest performing relationship performance. We identify 12 practices—including the necessity of considering a client/supplier as a key account, and regular involvement of the client’s purchasing function—that are critical for creating a high-performing relationship, and 12 that lead to a low-performing relationship—that is, those that should be avoided. Our results provide deeper knowledge of the governance of client-supplier innovation cooperation, thanks to the paradigm change driven by the NCA approach. They also provide direct practical implications: practices to promote or to avoid in order to maximize successful innovation cooperation.

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Acknowledgements

The support of the firm innov’& is gratefully acknowledged for the realization of this study. We also appreciate the support of Jan Dul for helping us apply the NCA method to our data, and the support of Thibaud Guedon and Georges-Edouard Sarkis, students of Ecole polytechnique, in this process. First versions of this work were presented at the EURAM and IPSERA annual conferences in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. i3-CRG, Ecole polytechnique, Palaiseau Cedex, France

    Romaric Servajean-Hilst

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  1. Romaric Servajean-Hilst
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Correspondence to Romaric Servajean-Hilst .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, Management, Industrial Engineering and Tourism, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

    António Carrizo Moreira

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    Luís Miguel D. F. Ferreira

  3. Department of Economics, Management, Industrial Engineering and Tourism, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

    Ricardo A. Zimmermann

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Servajean-Hilst, R. (2018). Necessary Governing Practices for the Success (and Failure) of Client-Supplier Innovation Cooperation. In: Moreira, A., Ferreira, L., Zimmermann, R. (eds) Innovation and Supply Chain Management. Contributions to Management Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74304-2_4

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