Cooperation,Trust and Performance – Empirical Results from Three Countries |
| |
Authors: | Matthias Fink Alexander Kessler |
| |
Affiliation: | 1. Institute for Small Business Management and Entrepreneurship, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, Augasse 2‐6, 1090 Wien, Austria;2. Institute for Management and Entrepreneurship, FHWien University of Applied Sciences of WKW, Waehringer Guertel 97, 1180 Wien, Austria Email: matthias.fink@wu‐wien.ac.at;3. alexander.kessler@fh‐wien.ac.at |
| |
Abstract: | Reverting to the resource‐based view of strategic management and cooperation theory, we provide argumentation for the value of two critical resources to cooperating firms: cooperation experience and maxim‐based trust. The results of a large‐scale survey in three European countries (Austria, Slovenia and the Czech Republic) reveal an important fact: although cooperation experience contributes to business performance, the contribution of maxim‐based trust to success is significantly higher. As a result, corporate success depends not only on the quantity of cooperation experience, but also – and to an even greater extent – on the quality of cooperation with regard to the form of coordinative power established within the cooperation arrangement. Given that maxim‐based trust has been identified as a feasible coordination mechanism in cooperation relationships, it might therefore be freed from its frequent characterization as utopian and out of touch with reality. |
| |
Keywords: | |
|
|