The dynamics of outsourcing relationships in global value chains: Perspectives from MNEs and their suppliers

We investigate the dynamics of outsourcing relationships within global value chains, through six case studies of lead firm-supplier dyads, considering these relationships from the perspectives not only of the lead firms but also of their suppliers. We track the evolution of the relationships by identifying the roles played by heterogeneous resources and capabilities, isolating mechanisms, and relationship-specific investments in creating potential resource dependence/power asymmetries in the dyads. In our cross-case analysis, we identify different lead firm-supplier dynamics, key underlying mechanisms, and related degrees of dependence/power asymmetries. We also found evidence of the development of trust and of partnerships in situations of power asymmetry and of power balance. In doing so we contribute to an under-researched area in International Business about the evolution over time of outsourcing relationships within global value chains. We advance a set of propositions to be tested in future research.

• Publication year

  2018

• Venue

  Journal of business research

• Publication date

  2018-02-01

• Fields of study

  Business, Economics

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1016/J.JBUSRES.2018.01.012
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• Outsourcing, Offshoring And The Global Factory

  2018cited by this paper
• The Performance Consequences of Manufacturing Outsourcing: Review and Recommendations for Future Research

  2017cited by this paper
• Managing integration in outsourcing relationships - The influence of cost and quality priorities

  2017cited by this paper
• Supplier Competition, Uncertainty and Make or Buy Decisions

  2017cited by this paper
• Book Review - World Investment Report 2011: Non-equity Modes of International Production and Development

  2017cited by this paper
• Power in Supply Chain Management

  2017cited by this paper
• Structure and evolution of global cluster networks: evidence from the aerospace industry

  2016cited by this paper
• Rethinking the Role of Large Trans-National First-Tier Suppliers in the Garments and Electronics Industry

  2016cited by this paper
• Technology, innovation and knowledge: The importance of ideas and international connectivity

  2016cited by this paper
• Reverse Dependency

  2016cited by this paper
• The paradox of resource vulnerability: Considerations for organizational curatorship

  2015cited by this paper
• The Future of Global Organizing

  2015cited by this paper
• The evolving geography of production hubs and regional value chains across East Asia: Trade in value-added

  2015cited by this paper
• HOW GLOBAL ARE GLOBAL VALUE CHAINS? A NEW APPROACH TO MEASURE INTERNATIONAL FRAGMENTATION

  2015cited by this paper
• Partnerships: The role that power plays in shaping collaborative buyer–supplier exchanges

  2015influential reference
• Returning from Offshore: What Do We Know?

  2015cited by this paper
• Power symmetry and the development of trust in interdependent relationships: The mediating role of goal congruence

  2015cited by this paper
• Toward a Dynamic Theory of Global Production Networks

  2015cited by this paper
• The Multinational Head Office as a Joint Value Orchestrator: Managing the Global Factory

  2015cited by this paper
• The Dynamics of the Outsourcing Relationship

  2015cited by this paper
• The supplier's side of outsourcing: Taking over activities and blurring organizational boundaries

  2014cited by this paper
• Manufacturing flexibility through outsourcing : effects of contingencies

  2014cited by this paper
• Putting Process (Back) in: Research on the Internationalization Process of the Firm

  2014cited by this paper
• Explaining governance in global value chains: A modular theory-building effort

  2014cited by this paper
• Global value chains in a post-Washington Consensus world

  2014cited by this paper
• When manufacturing moves back: Concepts and questions

  2014cited by this paper
• Economic and Social Upgrading in Global Value Chains and Industrial Clusters: Why Governance Matters

  2014cited by this paper
• Identifying innovative suppliers in business networks: An empirical study

  2014cited by this paper
• The Evolutionary Dynamics of Biofuel Value Chains: From Unipolar and Government-Driven to Multipolar Governance

  2014cited by this paper
• Renaissance of case research as a scientific method

  2014cited by this paper
• Offshoring and Reshoring: An Update on the Manufacturing Location Decision

  2013cited by this paper
• World Investment Report 2013

  2013cited by this paper
• Process studies of change in organization and management : unveiling temporality, activity, and flow

  2013cited by this paper
• Seeking Qualitative Rigor in Inductive Research

  2013cited by this paper
• The origins of power in buyer–seller relationships

  2012cited by this paper
• Appropriating the Value from Innovation: Inimitability and the Effectiveness of Isolating Mechanisms

  2012cited by this paper
• Why the World Suddenly Cares About Global Supply Chains

  2012cited by this paper
• Creating trust in piranha-infested waters: The confluence of buyer, supplier and host country contexts

  2011cited by this paper
• The dual nature of innovative activity: How entrepreneurial orientation influences innovation generation and adoption

  2011cited by this paper
• Inter-organizational trust and the dynamics of distrust

  2011cited by this paper
• The Governance of the Multinational Enterprise: Insights from Internalization Theory

  2011cited by this paper
• Rational heuristics: the ‘simple rules’ that strategists learn from process experience

  2011cited by this paper
• The outsourcing of primary activities: theoretical analysis and propositions

  2011cited by this paper
• Dark side of relationships: A tensions-based view

  2011cited by this paper
• The Strategic Nexus of Offshoring and Outsourcing Decisions

  2010cited by this paper
• Reconceptualizing the Firm in a World of Outsourcing and Offshoring: The Organizational and Geographical Relocation of High-Value Company Functions

  2010cited by this paper
• Building theories from case study research

  2009cited by this paper
• Reparing Relationships Within and Between Organizations: Building A Conceptual Foundation

  2009cited by this paper
• Lock-in situations in supply chains: A social exchange theoretic study of sourcing arrangements in buyer-supplier relationships

  2009cited by this paper
• The impact of the global factory on economic development

  2009cited by this paper
• Power and dependence perspectives on outsourcing decisions

  2009cited by this paper
• Inter-Organizational Knowledge Transfer: Current Themes and Future Prospects

  2008cited by this paper
• Outsourcing and Performance in Entrepreneurial Firms: Contingent Relationships with Entrepreneurial Configurations

  2008cited by this paper
• Toward a Model of Strategic Outsourcing

  2007cited by this paper
• You have printed the following article : Supplier Switching Costs and Vertical Integration in the Automobile Industry

  2007cited by this paper
• Asymmetrical power relations and upgrading among suppliers of global clothing brands: Hugo Boss in Turkey

  2007cited by this paper
• Theory Building From Cases: Opportunities And Challenges

  2007cited by this paper
• Power and interdependence in buyer supplier relationships: A purchasing portfolio approach

  2007cited by this paper
• Why Do Some Family Businesses Out–Compete? Governance, Long–Term Orientations, and Sustainable Capability

  2006cited by this paper
• Subcontractors for tractors: Theory and evidence on flexible specialization, supplier selection, and contracting

  2006cited by this paper
• Power to all our friends? Living with imbalance in supplier-retailer relationships

  2005influential reference
• The governance of global value chains

  2005cited by this paper
• Quality standards, conventions and the governance of global value chains

  2005cited by this paper
• Theory, Strategy, and Entrepreneurship

  2005cited by this paper
• Upgrading in Global Value Chains: Lessons from Latin American Clusters

  2005cited by this paper
• Corporate Reputation: What Do Consumers Really Care About?

  2005cited by this paper
• Coordination and Lock-In: Competition with Switching Costs and Network E ects

  2004cited by this paper
• The art of the possible: relationship management in power regimes and supply chains

  2004cited by this paper
• Managing appropriately in construction power regimes: understanding the impact of regularity in the project environment

  2004cited by this paper
• Globalisation, economic geography and the strategy of multinational enterprises

  2004cited by this paper
• Opportunity and constraint in business‐to‐business relationships: insights from strategic choice and zones of manoeuvre

  2004cited by this paper
• Consumer switching costs: A typology, antecedents, and consequences

  2003cited by this paper
• THE ROLE OF INCENTIVES IN BUYER-SUPPLIER RELATIONSHIPS : INDUSTRIAL CASES FROM A UK STUDY A PAPER FOR THE WORKIN-PROGRESS STREAM

  2003cited by this paper
• Are co‐operation and trust being confused with power? An analysis of food retailing in Australia and the UK

  2003cited by this paper
• Trading off between Value Creation and Value Appropriation: The Financial Implications of Shifts in Strategic Emphasis

  2003cited by this paper
• Bringing Together Strategic Outsourcing and Corporate Strategy : Outsourcing Motives and Risks

  2003cited by this paper
• THE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE OF INTERCONNECTED FIRMS: AN EXTENSION OF THE RESOURCE-BASED VIEW.

  2002cited by this paper
• Market-focused Resources, Competitive Positioning and Firm Performance

  2001cited by this paper
• Trust, Power and Control in Trans-Organizational Relations

  2001cited by this paper
• Understanding Buyer and Supplier Power: A Framework for Procurement and Supply Competence

  2001cited by this paper
• Supply Chains and Power Regimes: Toward an Analytic Framework for Managing Extended Networks of Buyer and Supplier Relationships

  2001cited by this paper
• Making More by Doing Less: An Analysis of Outsourcing and its Effects on Firm Performance

  2000cited by this paper
• Power, value and supply chain management

  1999influential reference
• STRATEGIC OUTSOURCING: LEVERAGING KNOWLEDGE CAPABILITIES

  1999cited by this paper
• Strategies for Theorizing from Process Data

  1999cited by this paper
• The Importance of Power in Partnership Relationships

  1999influential reference
• International trade and industrial upgrading in the apparel commodity chain

  1999cited by this paper
• First-mover (dis)advantages: Retrospective and link with the resource-based view

  1998cited by this paper
• The Relational View: Cooperative Strategy and Sources of Interorganizational Competitive Advantage

  1998cited by this paper
• Are business‐to‐business relationships inherently unstable?

  1997cited by this paper
• WHAT IS A PROCESSUAL ANALYSIS.

  1997cited by this paper
• DYNAMIC CAPABILITIES AND STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

  1997cited by this paper
• The Effects of Trust and Interdependence on Relationship Commitment

  1996cited by this paper
• Incomplete contracts and the make or buy decision: Governance design and attainable flexibility

  1996cited by this paper
• Interdependency, Contracting, and Relational Behavior in Marketing Channels:

  1996cited by this paper
• The new corporate architecture

  1995cited by this paper
• Hierarchies, Markets and Power in the Economy: An Economic Perspective

  1995cited by this paper
• SUPPLIER COMMITMENT IN RELATIONAL CONTRACT EXCHANGES WITH BUYERS: A STUDY OF INTERORGANIZATIONAL DEPENDENCE AND EXERCISED POWER*

  1994cited by this paper
• Toward a Theory of International New ventures

  1994cited by this paper
• The cornerstones of competitive advantage: A resource‐based view

  1993cited by this paper

• Research on the impact of artificial intelligence innovation on enterprise competitiveness

  2026cites this paper
• Swipe, like, connect: A typology for strategic short-term entrepreneurial relationships using social media to countervail power

  2026cites this paper
• Subsidiary strategy in the modern multinational: Grappling with change and complexity

  2026cites this paper
• Upgrading to Escape the Low Value-Added Trap in Global Value Chains: The Mediating Role of Strategic Learning Capability

  2026cites this paper
• Training clients in digital marketing: The key to a feel-good B2B relationship with SMEs

  2025cites this paper
• Multinational enterprises and sustainable business in emerging markets

  2025cites this paper
• Financial Literacy, Digital Adoption, Social Persuasion and Entrepreneurial Business Performance Towards Achieving Sustainable Development Goals of Decent Works & Economic Growth: Self-Efficacy as a Mediator

  2025cites this paper
• Born globals, international new ventures, and international entrepreneurship: Reflections and a research agenda

  2025cites this paper
• A Configurational Framework for Supplier Upgrading in Global Value Chains

  2025cites this paper
• Beyond the "eye of the storm": A processual and multi-layered approach to global value chain resilience

  2025cites this paper
• An analysis of the inhibitors of resilience in the global value chains of multinational enterprises

  2024cites this paper
• Beyond global mobility: how human capital shapes the MNE in the 21st century

  2024cites this paper
• How do strategic networks help SMEs upgrade in global value chains? A cross-national analysis

  2023influential citation
• De-globalization, International Trade Protectionism, and the Reconfigurations of Global Value Chains

  2023cites this paper
• Financial Sustainability of Digitizing Cultural Heritage: The International Platform Europeana

  2023cites this paper
• Internationalization Motives of Emerging Market Firms: A View from Chinese State-Owned Enterprises

  2023cites this paper
• Synergies and Trade-offs Between the Food Policy Objectives: Evidence from the Dairy Sector of Senegal

  2023cites this paper
• Is manufacturing trade a stepping stone or an obstacle to service trade?

  2023cites this paper
• Global value chain embedding mode and carbon emission efficiency: Evidence from China's manufacturing industry

  2023cites this paper
• Combatting global disruption through tertius iungens orientation of CEOs: A moderated-mediated mechanism

  2023cites this paper
• Value co-creation processes in the context of circular entrepreneurship: A quantitative study on born circular firms

  2023cites this paper
• Dependence as strategy: extending resource dependence theory and clarifying its understanding of the strategic options of dependent firms

  2023cites this paper
• Linkages between smart, lean, and resilient manufacturing for sustainable development

  2022cites this paper
• Performance implications of outsourcing: A meta-analysis

  2022cites this paper
• Credit Constraints and Increased Firm-Level Production Fragmentation: Evidence from India

  2022cites this paper
• A holistic model for understanding the dynamics of outsourcing

  2022cites this paper
• Digitalization, institutions and new venture internationalization

  2022cites this paper
• How do emerging market suppliers reshape the governance of global value chains? Evidence from China

  2022cites this paper
• Additive manufacturing: A framework for supply chain configuration

  2022cites this paper
• Learning by supplying to climb the value chain: suppliers’ transition from B-to-B to B-to-C

  2022cites this paper
• Resource dependence theory in international business: Progress and prospects

  2022cites this paper
• Digital power: Value chain upgrading in an age of digitization

  2021cites this paper
• Global cities: A multi-disciplinary review and research agenda

  2021cites this paper
• Reimagining global food value chains through effective resilience to COVID-19 shocks and similar future events: A dynamic capability perspective

  2021cites this paper
• Determinants of Non-technological upgrading strategies for rice market improvements in Uganda

  2021cites this paper
• Trust, commitment, logistics outsourcing relationship quality, relationship satisfaction, strategy alignment and logistics performance – a case of selected manufacturing firms in Uganda

  2021cites this paper
• Revisiting critical factors of logistics outsourcing relationship: a multiple-case study approach

  2021cites this paper
• The interplay between digital transformation and governance mechanisms in supply chains: evidence from the Italian automotive industry

  2021cites this paper
• Mediating the impact of power on supplier satisfaction: Do buyer status and relational conflict matter?

  2021cites this paper
• Ecosystems 4.0: redesigning global value chains

  2020cites this paper
• Legitimizing actions in dependence-asymmetry relationships: A comparison between Chinese and Western firms

  2020cites this paper
• A repositioning organizational knowledge dynamics by functional upgrading and downgrading strategy in global value chain

  2020cites this paper
• Small businesses in the global market: evidence from the fashion system of Vicenza province (Italy)

  2020cites this paper
• Nurturing International Business research through Global Value Chains literature: A review and discussion of future research opportunities

  2020cites this paper
• Information Technology Outsourcing Chain: Literature Review and Implications for Development of Distributed Coordination

  2019cites this paper
• Structure of the Global Ready-Made Garment Sector

  2019cites this paper
• An Empirical Investigation on Supply Chain Power and Dependence on CSR Performance

  2018cites this paper
• ESILIENZ VON REGIONALEN UND GLOBALEN

  year unknowncites this paper