Identity in collaboration

• Purpose: This paper targets the issue of multi-identities of companies in collaboration. Companies may participate in collaboration for various reasons and may also perceive the collaboration in different ways. What is more; companies in collaboration may to various extents regard themselves as, and be regarded as, individual companies or as part of the collaboration. Their views may in turn be reflected in how business partners of the collaborating companies perceive the collaboration. This paper builds on various actors’ perception of companies in collaboration. The paper uses the identity concept to capture the multi-identities of companies in collaboration. The purpose of the paper is to describe and discuss various actors’ perception in multi-identity settings. Research method: The paper is built on a case study describing three levels of identity: a company level, the level of a collaboration taking the form of a joint venture, and a contractual collaboration. These are in turn described from involved parties’ and their business partners’ perspectives. Research findings: The paper shows that pre-collaboration history greatly reflects the identity ascribed to the companies. This was the case both for the companies in the collaboration and their business partners’ perceptions. The more structured the collaboration, the more probable that a separate collaboration identity was established. A collaboration based on contracts merely meant that the company’s identity was affected by connections to collaboration parties, while a separate identity was not established. Main contribution: The paper contributes to literature on corporate identity through discussing them in relation to collaboration. It also contributes to research on perception in business relationships through pointing at differences in perception between parties, where this paper connects this to actor and relationship history along with the collaboration structure.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Företagsekonomi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Business Administration (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Identity

collaboration

perception

marketing agency

Business Studies

Företagsekonomi

SOCIAL SCIENCES

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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