Abstract:
This thesis concerns the phenomenon power, heralded the most fundamental yet
contested phenomenon / concept in social science. The focus is establishing the
essential qualities that describe, characterize, and explain power in inter-
organisation relationships (IOR-power) to inform debates on the significance of
IOR-power to supply chain performance. The thesis is founded on an iterative
and critical synthesis of core academic perspectives spanning 50 years and 27
practitioner perspectives obtained from three field studies, unearthing meanings
and experiences attributed to IOR-power. It is argued that IOR-power standing
replete with unresolved contestations has been under-theorised and under-
valued in the literature and in practice. An imbued distain for IOR-power is fuelled
by an untenable dichotomisation of consensual IOR-influence and coercive IOR-
power – unnecessarily stripping IOR-power of much of its potency – leaving both
precariously sharing the burden of explaining IOR-behaviour wherein accounts
thus far are insufficient to explain IOR-outcomes of interest.
Underpinned by a dialectical critical realism perspective, the main contribution is
a plausible theory of IOR-power, a fundamental explanatory process building
block complemented by a conceptual framework supported by evidence from the
aerospace and defence industry. Advancing alignment with natural-based power,
IOR-power is more comprehensively claimed to be the combination of embedded
individual behaviour, human creations, and Nature, at work exploiting resources
in pursuit of goal attainment – an emergent, downwardly inclusive social and
natural-based process governing IOR-outcomes. Accordingly, IOR-influence is
distinct from but wholly integral to IOR-power that is rendered situated,
negotiated, and indeterminate. IOR-power is conferred its full weight in explaining
IOR-performance across economic, social, and environmental domains
rendering adopted perspective and attribution salient in IOR-power accounts. The
only antithesis of IOR-power is IOR-powerlessness wherein empowerment and
disempowerment stand as theoretical bridges.
