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Collocation for Supplier–Client Knowledge-Based Coordination: Niche Positioning, Task Complexity, and Comparative Costs

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Book cover Design and Management of Interfirm Networks

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

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Abstract

We examine how clients and suppliers govern vertical relationships for knowledge work. Collocation—having supplier personnel interact with the client’s personnel and systems at the client’s site—is a contractual mechanism that facilitates coordination for knowledge co-creation. Using a sample of 1609 credit unions’ relationships with 50 IT suppliers during the rise of Internet-based banking from 2000 to 2004, we examine the initial development of arrangements for online share account and loan processing. Results show that client positioning and task complexity partially determined the choice of collocation vis-a-vis a supplier delivering standard services from a remote location. However, as broadband communications reduced the costs of remote service, clients moved away from collocation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rutgers Business School-Newark and New Brunswick, Piscataway, NJ, USA

    Douglas J. Miller

  2. A.B. Freeman School of Business, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA

    Carmen Weigelt

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  1. Douglas J. Miller
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Correspondence to Douglas J. Miller .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Josef Windsperger

  2. Institute of Management of Rennes (IAE), Université de Rennes 1, Rennes, France

    Gérard Cliquet

  3. RSM, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Leiderdorp, Zuid-Holland, The Netherlands

    George Hendrikse

  4. Vienna University of Technology, Wien, Austria

    Marijana Srećković

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Miller, D.J., Weigelt, C. (2019). Collocation for Supplier–Client Knowledge-Based Coordination: Niche Positioning, Task Complexity, and Comparative Costs. In: Windsperger, J., Cliquet, G., Hendrikse, G., Srećković, M. (eds) Design and Management of Interfirm Networks. Contributions to Management Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29245-4_14

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