The analysis of interorganizational relations: A field study on logistics sector

Since the conceptualization of organizations as open systems in the 1960s, the organizational literature has been proliferated with new theories and approaches. During this evolutionary process, the focus in the organizational literature has shifted from the organization itself to its environment, and then to the relations of organization with its environment. The interactions among organizations in their environment have been frequently studied in this process. These interactions, which are conceptualized as the interorganizational relations, encompass every type of relations and linkages among two or more organizations. This definition indicates that the interorganizational relations provide a very comprehensive field of study for the scholars. Although there are numerous studies to explain and analyze the interorganizational relations in the literature, almost none of them provide an integrated structure for the issue. The purpose of this study is to examine the various dimensions of interorganizational relations as a whole and analyze the linkages among them in the theoretical and empirical level. In the study, interorganizational relations were conceptualized as a part of an organization?s strategic management to other organizational stakeholders in its environment. In this context, four dimensions of interorganizational relations including causality, quantitative structure, qualitative structure, and effects and their possible linkages among each other were analyzed theoretically. An integrated model of interorganizational relations was proposed based on the theoretical propositions obtained in the literature review. The proposed model was analyzed on a sample of logistics firms operating in Turkey with following the graph theoretical methodology. The general findings of the study revealed interesting linkages among these dimensions of interorganizational relations.