The Relationship of Organisational Value Frames with the Configuration of Alliance Portfolios: Cases from Electricity Utilities in Great Britain

Tulin Dzhengiz
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Tulin Dzhengiz: Innovation Management Policy Division, Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, Booth Street East, Manchester M13 9SS, UK

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 12, 1-29

Abstract: Increasing concerns over global and local sustainability issues motivate businesses to develop solutions via collaborative partnerships. While many studies explain the contributions of sustainable alliances to economic, environmental, and social sustainability, less is known about how a portfolio of these alliances is configured. This study aims to answer this question by examining the relationship between organisational value frames and alliance portfolio configurations of 16 utility companies in the electricity industry of Great Britain. The study finds that organisational value frames play a key role in the selection of alliance partners and hence the configuration of alliance portfolios. The results demonstrate that British electricity utilities often collaborate with cognitively similar organisations. The results demonstrate that cognitive homophily is common in selecting partners to tackle sustainability issues. While previous studies demonstrated homophily in partner selection as resource homophily or status homophily, in the sustainability context, this study shows that homophily is also about values that guide interpretations of sustainability issues.

Keywords: organisational cognition; organisational value frames; sustainability; sustainable collaboration; sustainable alliance portfolio; configuration of alliance portfolios; electric utilities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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