Editing Collaboration (section)

=== Business ===
{{See also|Management cybernetics}}

Collaboration in business can be found both within and across organizations,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Eisingerich |first1=Andreas B. |last2=Bell |first2=Simon J. |year=2008 |title=Managing Networks of Interorganizational Linkages and Sustainable Firm Performance in Business-to-Business Service Contexts |journal=Journal of Services Marketing |volume=22 |issue=7 |pages=494–504 |url=http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1747570&show=html |doi=10.1108/08876040810909631}}</ref> and examples range from formalised [[partnership]]s, use of [[coworking]] spaces where freelancers can work with others in a collaborative environment and [[crowd funding]], to the complexity of a [[multinational corporation]]. Inter-organizational collaboration brings participating parties to invest resources, mutually achieve goals, share information, resources, rewards and responsibilities, as well as make joint decisions and solve problems.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Chan|first1=Felix T. S.|last2=Prakash|first2=Anuj|date=2012-08-15|title=Inventory management in a lateral collaborative manufacturing supply chain: a simulation study|journal=International Journal of Production Research|volume=50|issue=16|pages=4670–4685|doi=10.1080/00207543.2011.628709|issn=0020-7543|hdl=10397/25934|s2cid=108465493|hdl-access=free}}</ref> Collaboration between public, private and voluntary sectors can be effective in tackling complex policy problems, but may be handled more effectively by [[Boundary spanning|boundary-spanning]] teams and [[Network organization|networks]] than by formal organizational structures.<ref>{{cite web|last=Fischer|first=Michael Daniel|title=An ethnographic study of turbulence in the management of personality disorders: an interorganisational perspective|url=https://unicorn.lib.ic.ac.uk/uhtbin/ckey/631847|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130419081159/https://unicorn.lib.ic.ac.uk/uhtbin/ckey/631847|url-status=dead|archive-date=19 April 2013|work=2008, PhD Thesis|publisher=Imperial College London, University of London|access-date=22 February 2013}}</ref> In turn, business and management scholars have paid much attention to the importance of both formal and informal mechanisms to support inter-organizational collaboration.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=McEvily|first1=Bill|last2=Soda|first2=Giuseppe|last3=Tortoriello|first3=Marco|date=2014|title=More Formally: Rediscovering the Missing Link between Formal Organization and Informal Social Structure|journal=The Academy of Management Annals|language=en|volume=8|issue=1|pages=299–345|doi=10.1080/19416520.2014.885252|issn=1941-6520}}</ref> They especially point to the role of [[contract]]ual and relational mechanisms and the inherent tensions between the two.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Poppo|first1=Laura|last2=Zenger|first2=Todd|date=2002|title=Do formal contracts and relational governance function as substitutes or complements?|journal=Strategic Management Journal|language=en|volume=23|issue=8|pages=707–725|doi=10.1002/smj.249|issn=1097-0266|doi-access=free}}</ref> Global manufacturer [[Unilever]] offers to collaborate with innovating [[Startup company|start-up]] businesses, and its "Unilever Foundry" refers to over 400 examples of "strategic collaboration" in this field.<ref>Unilever Foundry, [https://www.theunileverfoundry.com/how-we-work.html Bringing an ‘outside-in’ perspective to Unilever], accessed 3 June 2024</ref> Collaborative [[procurement]] has been commended as a means of achieving financial savings and operational efficiency in the acquisition of common goods and services in the public sector,<ref>[[National Audit Office (United Kingdom)|National Audit Office]], [https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/A_review_of_collaborative_procurement_across_the_public_sector.pdf A review of collaborative procurement across the public sector], published May 2010, accessed 4 March 2022</ref> and producing mutually beneficial results in the private sector.<ref>[[Toyota]] (2018), [https://global.toyota/pages/global_toyota/sustainability/report/sdb/sdb18_049-050_en.pdf Sustainability Data Book 2018: Collaboration with Suppliers], accessed 18 March 2022</ref> Collaboration allows for better communication within organizations and along [[supply chain]]s. It is a way of coordinating different ideas from numerous people to generate a wide variety of knowledge. Collaboration with a few selected firms has been shown to positively impact firm performance and innovation outcomes.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Eisingerich |first1=Andreas B. |last2=Rubera |first2=Gaia |last3=Seifert |first3=Matthias |date=May 2009 |title=Managing Service Innovation and Interorganizational Relationships for Firm Performance: To Commit or Diversify? |journal=Journal of Service Research |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=344–356 |doi=10.1177/1094670508329223 |s2cid=167935775 }}</ref>

Technology has provided the internet, wireless connectivity and collaboration tools such as blogs and wikis, and has as such created the possibility of "[[mass collaboration]]". People are able to rapidly communicate and share ideas, crossing longstanding geographical and cultural boundaries. Social networks permeate business culture where collaborative uses include [[file sharing]] and [[knowledge transfer]]. According to author [[Evan Rosen]] command-and-control organizational structures inhibit collaboration and replacing such structures allows collaboration to flourish.<ref>Voyles, Bennett [http://knowledge.ckgsb.edu.cn/2015/09/14/employment/firing-the-annual-performance-review/ "Firing the Annual Performance Review,"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208045035/http://knowledge.ckgsb.edu.cn/2015/09/14/employment/firing-the-annual-performance-review/ |date=2015-12-08 }} September 14, 2015, ''CKGSB Knowledge''.</ref>

Studies have found that collaboration can increase achievement and productivity.<ref>{{cite web|last=Poquérusse|first=Jessie|title=The Neuroscience of Sharing|url=https://www.uniiverse.com/neuroscience|access-date=16 August 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130508192042/https://www.uniiverse.com/neuroscience|archive-date=8 May 2013}}</ref> However, Bill Huber, former chair of the International Association for Contract and Commercial Management (IACCM, now [[World Commerce & Contracting]]), notes that not all companies have what he calls "collaborative DNA".<ref name=huber>IACCM, [https://www.iaccm.com/news/contractingexcellence/print/?newsletterid=40 Structuring a collaborative relationship], Contracting Excellence Magazine, December 2007, accessed 18 March 2022</ref> Huber argues that{{blockquote|often when companies fail to implement or sustain successful collaborative relationships, the causes can be traced to insufficient leadership support or to underdeveloped collaboration skills.<ref name=huber />}} Andrew Cox, formerly of [[Birmingham Business School (University of Birmingham)|Birmingham Business School]] and the founder of the International Institute for Advanced Purchasing and Supply (IIAPS),<ref>Smith, P., [https://spendmatters.com/uk/andrew-cox-on-sourcing-portfolio-analysis-insightful-and-important-thinking/ Andrew Cox on Sourcing Portfolio Analysis – Insightful and Important Thinking], ''Spend Matters'', published 30 June 2015, accessed 2 March 2023</ref> has highlighted the dangers in thinking that collaborative relationships always produce mutually advantageous "[[win-win]]" outcomes for both buyers and sellers in commercial relationships. Cox uses case studies which show where competent [[buyer]]s have used collaboration successful to secure [[value for money]], and other examples where "incompetent buyers" utilizing "what initially appear to be win-win outcomes" subsequently lose out to "more commercially competent suppliers".<ref name=cox>Cox, A., {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20120213114819/https://www.cpoagenda.com/previous-articles/autumn-2005-issue/features/the-problem-with-win-win/ The problem with win-win]}}, ''CPO Agenda'', published Autumn 2005, archived 13 February 2021, accessed 2 March 2023</ref> In relation to one of his examples, Cox concludes that{{quote|From a perception that the buyer was in a win-win situation, it soon became apparent that it was either close to a lose-win or at best a partial win-win situation favouring the supplier.<ref name=cox />}}

A four-year study of interorganizational collaboration in a mental health setting found that successful collaboration can be rapidly derailed through external policy steering, particularly where it undermines relations built on trust.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Fischer|first=Michael D|s2cid=52219788|title=Organizational Turbulence, Trouble and Trauma: Theorizing the Collapse of a Mental Health Setting|journal=Organization Studies|date=28 September 2012|volume=33|issue=9|pages=1153–1173|doi=10.1177/0170840612448155}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Fischer|first=Michael Daniel|author2=Ferlie, Ewan|title=Resisting hybridisation between modes of clinical risk management: Contradiction, contest, and the production of intractable conflict|journal=Accounting, Organizations and Society|date=1 January 2013|volume=38|issue=1|pages=30–49|doi=10.1016/j.aos.2012.11.002|s2cid=44146410|url=http://eureka.sbs.ox.ac.uk/4368/1/Fischer_M_D__Ferlie_E_%28authors%27_post-print_version%29_Accounting_Organizations_and_Society.pdf|access-date=25 October 2018|archive-date=5 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190705140612/http://eureka.sbs.ox.ac.uk/4368/1/Fischer_M_D__Ferlie_E_%28authors%27_post-print_version%29_Accounting_Organizations_and_Society.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> Collaboration is also threatened by opportunism from the business partners and the possibility of coordination failures that can derail the efforts of even well-intentioned parties.

Margarita Leib, a professor at [[Tilburg University]] in the Netherlands, wrote about how individuals working together sometimes promote dishonest behavior that prioritizes profit, like what [[Volkswagen]] did to fake [[Volkswagen emissions scandal|vehicle emission levels]]. This often begins with one person lying, which incentivizes or pressures everyone else to escalate in response.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Leib |first=Margarita |date=2022-07-01 |title=The Dark Side of Collaboration |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-dark-side-of-collaboration/ |access-date=2024-04-26 |website=Scientific American |language=en}}</ref>