The three case companies comprise a primary steel producer (who converts iron-ore through blast furnaces into coils), a transport provider(who specialises in the transportation of steel products), and a tubes manufacturer (who converts the steel coils into tubes). The types of collaboration mentioned in the paper which has relevance to the case studies, include Technology-design collaboration between the the primary steel producer(who has the technology for converting iron-ore to steel coils of the required specification) and the steel tubes manufacturer (who subsequently applies their design capability to he steel coil to form individual products). The transport provider by offering specialised services for steel movements can be regarded as engaging in collaboration in complementary know-how.

The relevant theories on inter-organsational relationships include agency theory for the relationship between the primary steel producer and the steel tubes manufacturer and also between the primary steel producer and the transport provider since contractural obligations are in place for these relationships. Interestingly there is no contractural obligation between the transport provider and the steel tubes manufacturer. Network theory and transaction cost economics have relevance for all three cases inasmuch as for instance providing bases for both a supply chain management view(i.e network theory) and also cost implications for example in averting the need for monitoring partners should trusting mechanisms be put in place (i.e. transaction cost economics).

Hi. Thanks for the detail reply on your research work, Dr. Aryee. I hope you can submit a video presentation of your research work soon as this will definitely raise more interest and enthusiasm to the participants of this conference. If you have a video presentation prepared just email to me and I'll make sure it will be uploaded.