Inter-organisational Collaboration and Learning

Program Director: Professor Gordon Boyce

Research Collaborators: Dr Brendan Boyle; Tony Drew; Dr Kym Cowley; Professor Howard Dick (Conjoint); Dr Robert Imre; Dr Johanna Macneil; Dr Rebecca  Mitchell; Dr Guil Pires; Associate Professor Ramaswami Sridharan; Feng Tian; Dr Jennifer Waterhouse.

External Collaborators: Dr Rumintha Wickramasekera (QUT); Dr Paul Barnes (QUT);

This research programme explores the operations and dynamics of inter-organisational constructs (networks, clusters, licensing agreements, joint-ventures, strategic alliances, cartels, and consumer co-operatives.) These intermediate arrangements support numerous types of transactions, including purchasing and sales of goods and services, as well as transfers of knowledge and the generation of joint learning. Being dependent upon a specific institutional context, they provide a focal point considering social capital, communities of practice, legal structures (and contractual devices), ethics, social, ethnic and financial networks, diasporas, and the professions. Our research seeks to extend received theory, measurement techniques, comparative analysis, longitudinal approaches, regional and industrial analysis, supply chain dynamics. We are interested in exploring the relationship between institutional setting and structural change, the role of social & cultural context, and the development of firms’ external architectures.