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In a business to business context, the adoption of a disruptive technology can introduce great risks and benefits for all involved parties. In order to investigate the issues surrounding disruptive technology adoption, this dissertation analyzes the roles of buyers, suppliers, and employees within the adoption process. First, it is found that interorganizational trust has a positive impact on the likelihood of disruptive technology adoption, thus benefitting incumbent suppliers. Second, pre-existing interorganizational trust is shown to lead to lower quality adoption decisions from the buyers' perspective. Finally, employees are found to be less likely to accept disruptive technologies, as compared to incremental technologies. The influence of buyer, supplier, and employee relationships are complex and are explored in further detail in the following studies. / Business Administration/Marketing

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National calls for improving the prospects of STEM workforce development and broadening participation in STEM place the focus of change within the education system. Despite many efforts towards integrating STEM, and specifically engineering, into pre-college settings, mechanisms for change in schools towards these goals remain underdeveloped. While collaborative solutions involving multiple organizations across sectors towards addressing this complex problem appear promising, more work is needed to develop a critical understanding of the processes involved when such different organizations come together to collaborate towards a social goal. Based in an effort to bring more theoretical literature into the discourse around school-university-industry partnership, the purpose of this research is to contribute to a better understanding of how K-12 STEM interorganizational relationships develop in their initial stages by focusing on the collaborative processes and structures and to develop implications for future success of such collaborations. To accomplish this, I used a multiple case study design to investigate the collaborative processes that emerged in the first year of the partnership within VT PEERS (Virginia Tech Partnering with Educators and Engineers in Rural Schools). I centered my analysis on select adult stakeholders in the collaborative problem who were also programmatic participants including teachers, administrators, industry partners, and university affiliates. Using pre-year and post-year semi-structured interviews with these stakeholders, I characterized the collaborative processes in the first year of the program. Interpretation of results comparing across cases indicated considerations for education and organizational theory literature as well as implications for collaborative practice. Findings confirmed the emergent and negotiated nature of interorganizational collaboration and highlighted the importance of managing communication and reflection in partnership. Organizational culture may impact capacity building when organizations come together towards a complex social goal, particularly when industry is involved, and autonomy and operational issues within the school system and teaching can make collaborating with schools particularly challenging. When organizations come together towards a social goal centered around one of the collaborative partners, equality in exchange may not be a good measure of success. With the caveat that communication needs to be well managed to build credibility among partners, an unequal but equitable exchange of resources may be appropriate in collaborations towards a social goal. While it is tempting to continue to measure quality in interorganizational collaborations narrowly by the outcomes produced, a macro-level look at the collaborative processes involved enables collaborative stakeholders to be intentional about designing for future success. / Doctor of Philosophy / National calls for a higher number and greater diversity of STEM professionals place the burden of change on school systems. Despite some successful efforts, there still remains significant challenges to making change in schools. Partnerships between private companies, universities, and school systems appear promising, but current work is limited in its conclusions. There is a need to reflect more critically on the process of how organizations build relationships in addressing social goals if we are to gain a better understanding of how to make these partnerships successful. To address this, I conducted pre-year and post-year interviews with teachers, administrators, industry partners, and university affiliates during the first year of VT PEERS (Virginia Tech Partnering with Educators and Engineers in Rural Schools). Because the project took place in three different rural school counties, I looked for similarities and differences across the collaborations in each county to build a broader understanding and develop implications for other partnerships. Findings from this study led to several important takeaways about collaborating across organizations towards goals in K-12 STEM. First, collaboration is a process and initial plans will change and develop over time. Reflecting on this and keeping open communication through changes potentially equips collaborators to better weather the ups and downs of partnership. Second, the nature and flexibility of an organization’s work environment impacts how much tension they feel between getting their everyday work done and contributing to the collaboration. Third, unequal costs and benefits may be acceptable in a collaboration as long as collaborators are in agreement on the balance. Again, communication is important to build trust and understanding among partners for a healthy balance to be achieved. Overall, taking a birds-eye view of collaborative processes allows collaborators to be more intentional about designing for future success.

The overarching focus of this research is to examine the role and effectiveness of formal network organizations in mitigating barriers to disaster relief. I address this larger focus by examining the impacts of one formal network organization, the Partnership for Quality Medical Donations (PQMD) on its twelve NGO members. Specifically, the study addressees the following questions: 1) How does PQMD function? 2) What effects has PQMD had on its NGO members' relationships with each other, especially in the context of disaster response efforts? The research design for this study uses a qualitative framework. The study includes a literature review, content analysis of PQMD's website, research from a previous study with the same organization, and new interviews with representatives from nine NGO members, as well as the executive director of PQMD. My findings indicate that PQMD has been able to successfully bring together 27 different organizations (private and nonprofit), and mitigate the barrier of lack of central authority and lack of trust, to discuss their concerns, learn from one another, learn about one other, and create relationships that lead to better communication and collaboration in humanitarian relief. Although PQMD is working on a much smaller scale, I argue that researchers can look at this formal network organization to better understand how to improve the coordination of humanitarian aid on a worldwide scale and can glean lessons from this group. / Master of Public and International Affairs

Since their introduction to the United States from Japan in the 1980s, inter-organizational cooperation practices between buyers and suppliers have provided lower costs, shorter development and production cycles, and higher levels of quality and productivity. Many studies of interorganizational cooperation have relied on transaction cost economicsframeworks,which ignore cultural differences. Few studies have analyzed inter-organizational cooperation in Mexico, a less-developed country (LDC) with a cultural and industrial environment differentfromthe U.S. This study is concerned with the influence of interorganizational trust, individualism and collectivism (indcol), and the superordinate goal ofjust-in-time/total quality management (JIT/TQM) on inter-organizational cooperation.

Relacionamentos interorganizacionais são complexos e multifacetados, por sua natureza não apenas econômica, mas social e cultural. Por sua vez, estratégias de Marketing de Relacionamento não apenas possibilitam vantagens competitivas sustentáveis, mas podem interferir nos sistemas de símbolos e significados de organizações diferentes, através da frequência e qualidade das interações e pela existência de confiança, comprometimento, cooperação e aprendizados comuns. Considerando os fundamentos e práticas do Marketing de Relacionamento, o Marketing como área de fronteira dentro das organizações e as características e processos atinentes à Cultura Organizacional, este estudo teve como propósito analisar a contribuição dos relacionamentos interorganizacionais, especificamente entre fornecedores e clientes, nas suas transformações culturais organizacionais. Assim, tendo uma revisão literária na qual se abordaram a Cultura Organizacional, o Marketing de Relacionamento e as fronteiras organizacionais, foi efetuado um estudo qualitativo de casos múltiplos. Participaram da pesquisa funcionários e intermediários de canais de marketing de uma empresa moveleira (intitulada Empresa M) e de uma empresa de prestação de serviços financeiros (intitulada Empresa S). Foram realizadas quarenta e seis entrevistas em profundidade e uma observação, em quatro fases de pesquisa: a primeira e a terceira fases na Empresa M (vinte e seis entrevistas e uma observação), e a segunda e quarta na Empresa S (vinte entrevistas). A análise de dados utilizada foi a baseada na grounded theory. Os resultados indicam a importância da confiança, do comprometimento, da cooperação e dos processos de aprendizagem nas transformações das culturas organizacionais envolvidas; a importância destas dimensões na continuidade dos relacionamentos e na redução dos conflitos de papel dos interfaceadores; o papel da rotatividade e dos símbolos e significados não compartilhados em enfraquecer essas dimensões e respectivas relações. Por fim, evidenciam a existência de uma cultura interorganizacional, um sistema de símbolos e significados partilhados, por grupos ou indivíduos de organizações diferentes, de forma transitória ou específica a determinadas questões (perspectiva cultural da fragmentação). / Interorganizational relationships are complex and multifaceted, by its nature not only economic but social and cultural. In turn, Relationship Marketing strategies not only allow sustainable competitive advantages, but can influence the systems of symbols and meanings of different organizations, through the frequency and quality of interactions and the existence of trust, commitment, cooperation and learning processes. Considering the fundamental practices of Relationship Marketing, the boundary characteristics of Marketing in organizations and the characteristics and processes related to organizational culture, this study aimed to analyze the contribution of interorganizational relationships, specifically suppliers and customers, to the changes in organizational cultures. Therefore, considering a literature review in which was addressed Organizational Culture, Relationship Marketing and organizational boundaries, it was made a qualitative multiple-case study. The participants were employees and marketing channels intermediaries of a furniture company (called Company M) and a financial services company (called Company S). Forty-six in-depth interviews and one observation were made, at four phases of research, the first and third phases in Company M, with twenty-six interviews and the observation, and the second and fourth in the Company S, with twenty interviews. The data analysis used was based on grounded theory. The results indicate the importance of trust, commitment, cooperation and learning processes in the changes of organizational cultures considered, the importance of these dimensions in the relationships continuity and boundary spanners’ role conflicts reduction and the role of turnover unshared symbols and meanings in weakening these dimensions and their relations. Finally, demonstrate the existence of interorganizational culture, a system of symbols and meanings shared by groups or individuals from different organizations, on a temporary way or specific to certain issues (culture perspective of fragmentation).

The purpose of this study was to identify factors that influence leadership and its distribution in the Arab Bureau of Education for the Gulf States (ABEGS) Saudi Arabia. The research was undertaken in the ABEGS as a case study and its two initiatives, the Gulf Arab States Educational Research Centre (GASERC) Kuwait, and the Arab Educational Training Centre for Gulf States (AETCGS) Qatar respectively. The findings of this study reveal that the leadership in this interorganizational environment is distributed within the four levels of organizational structures. The visionary leadership comes from the inner most core political level that has its influence and direction at the strategic, managerial, and operational levels of the organization. . Based on extensive research of Leithwood and his colleagues, this study will integrate four leadership functions of setting directions, structuring the organization, developing capacity, and managing the (partnership) program into the analysis of interorganizational partnerships. The study also examined ‘securing accountability’ as another important leadership function in the partnership environment. I learnt that multiple factors influence leadership and enable different individuals and groups to perform these functions at the strategic, managerial and operational levels of the interorganizational structures. However, the major influence on leadership that weaves through the strategic level to the grassroots levels is the consultative process embedded in the organizational structures of the Arab Bureau. Some other prominent factors that influence leadership found in the study are positional power in the hierarchy, experience and knowledge, and dedication and commitment. Researchers like Benson, Mawhiney, Kickert, Proven, and Rodríguez, explored interorganizational partnerships and view the structures of leadership either vertically centralized or horizontally distributive. I argue that interorganizational leadership works horizontally at each level of the partnership i.e. strategic, managerial, and operational and vertically between these levels in the ABEGS partnership as shown in the ‘Circular Model of Interorganizational Leadership’ of this study. The leaders at various levels in the Arab Bureau from the member states function as equals. However, firm vertical hierarchy exists between various levels in the structures of the ABEGS. It is therefore established that horizontal and vertical leadership work simultaneously in interorganizational partnership environments as found in the case study of the Arab Bureau.

The purpose of this study was to identify factors that influence leadership and its distribution in the Arab Bureau of Education for the Gulf States (ABEGS) Saudi Arabia. The research was undertaken in the ABEGS as a case study and its two initiatives, the Gulf Arab States Educational Research Centre (GASERC) Kuwait, and the Arab Educational Training Centre for Gulf States (AETCGS) Qatar respectively. The findings of this study reveal that the leadership in this interorganizational environment is distributed within the four levels of organizational structures. The visionary leadership comes from the inner most core political level that has its influence and direction at the strategic, managerial, and operational levels of the organization. . Based on extensive research of Leithwood and his colleagues, this study will integrate four leadership functions of setting directions, structuring the organization, developing capacity, and managing the (partnership) program into the analysis of interorganizational partnerships. The study also examined ‘securing accountability’ as another important leadership function in the partnership environment. I learnt that multiple factors influence leadership and enable different individuals and groups to perform these functions at the strategic, managerial and operational levels of the interorganizational structures. However, the major influence on leadership that weaves through the strategic level to the grassroots levels is the consultative process embedded in the organizational structures of the Arab Bureau. Some other prominent factors that influence leadership found in the study are positional power in the hierarchy, experience and knowledge, and dedication and commitment. Researchers like Benson, Mawhiney, Kickert, Proven, and Rodríguez, explored interorganizational partnerships and view the structures of leadership either vertically centralized or horizontally distributive. I argue that interorganizational leadership works horizontally at each level of the partnership i.e. strategic, managerial, and operational and vertically between these levels in the ABEGS partnership as shown in the ‘Circular Model of Interorganizational Leadership’ of this study. The leaders at various levels in the Arab Bureau from the member states function as equals. However, firm vertical hierarchy exists between various levels in the structures of the ABEGS. It is therefore established that horizontal and vertical leadership work simultaneously in interorganizational partnership environments as found in the case study of the Arab Bureau.