The governance of interorganizational relations: case study investigation in triads and tetrads Addendum: The response of governance structure to project-critical incidents: case study investigation in triads and tetrads

BSTRACT The management of supplier relationships is asserted to be a key contributor to the performance of firms and organizations, notably as the globalization of the economy and the pace of change have significantly increased the competitive pressure. The interdependence of organizations, reflected in supplier portfolios, demands a finer understanding of the interplay of relationships across multiple tiers. After a thorough literature review on the governance of triads, an empirical investigation was conducted in the energy sector in Switzerland. Four cases studies were executed to investigate how does the governance of buyer-supplier relationships influence the other relationships within a buyer-supplier-supplier triad. Data was collected during semi-structured interviews and complemented with documentary evidence, on four concomitant projects involving the same organizations. The findings revealed the interplay of external and internal factors in the choice of governance arrangements and were summarized in a causal network. As well, the evolution of governance in response to threats to the attainment of goals exposed the primacy of functional-level logics in the prioritization of problem resolution. This also allowed to highlight how the governance of one link can affect another link, by changing the structure of the project-level triad, and/or the instruments enacted in the links. Managerial implications were materialized in a practical model displaying the interactions of internal and external influences to be accounted for in the continuous adaptation of supplier relationship and portfolio management practice. A limitation is that full reciprocal recounting of events was not achieved due to access restrictions even when data was collected from all parties in the triads. The value of this research lies in the demonstration of governance evolution across multiple tiers, how it affected both the structure of the triads and the choice of instruments, and the importance of intrinsic values in decision making. The contribution to managerial practice provides insights to improve readiness and flexibility in the management of intra and inter organizational relationships.