Interorganizational Collaboration among Small and Medium-sized Enterprises A Pan-European Study of the Influence of Type of Collaboration on SME Practice

Interorganizational collaboration among Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) is a phenomenon surrounded with both ambiguity and cumbersome managerial difficulties. Despite this, the SME constitutes the primus motor of the European economy, and the organizational practice of Interorganizational collaboration is considered more and more a necessity for companies today. With the SMEs competitive ability being restricted by the size and amount of resources available, Interorganizational collaboration as a mode of organizing offers a means for the SME to expand its resource base. The development and diffusion of IT-based infrastructures decreases the costs of Interorganizational collaboration, hence steadily pushing the envelope further in regards to what is economically feasible when it comes to collaborative constellations. This thesis presents a categorization of types of Interorganizational collaboration among SMEs, and on the basis of this investigates the influence of collaborative setting on three underlying areas of practice. By addressing the influence of collaborative setting on practice within the usage and value of IT, knowledge management and change management, the ambition is to aid SME managers in their everyday work. The fieldwork underlying this thesis consists of the research conducted within the PLEXUS-project, a three year project within the EU-funded IST-programme spanning from 2001 to 2004. The project aimed to create management techniques and decision support tools for the successful management and assessment of intellectual assets in interorganizational collaborations between SMEs.