Managing collaborative relationships in a period of discontinuity

The recent slowdown in the global economy has been a trigger for discontinuous change, prompting many organisations to re‐examine their collaborative strategies. This paper, focuses on the management of collaborative relationships in a period of discontinuity, presents, compares and contrasts three case studies, each of distinctly separate systems integrators from within the high technology sector in Ireland. The case data presented were gathered in 2001 as part of CO‐IMPROVE – an EU‐funded action research project focused on collaborative improvement within the extended manufacturing enterprise. This paper presents a cross case analysis that examines different choices faced by these systems integrators in their management of collaborative relationships with their supply bases.