Business Process-Based View of Inter-Firm Relationships

A business process based view of inter-firm relationship is proposed and discussed in this paper. The authors define inter-firm relationships as a broad range of relationships including strategic alliances, joint ventures, and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) or other equity-based relationships in this paper. Inter-firm relationships are some of the most important strategic activities in the present business environment. In addition, the formation and selection of a partner is the most essential issue for managers when arranging inter-firm relationships, and also very important for scholars when conducting researches. Resource-based views and transaction cost theories are the most utilized methodologies for analyzing inter-firm relationships, but they seem to face constraints when discussing the formation of inter-firm relationships. Therefore, the authors propose to introduce a business process-based view for discussing the formation of inter-firm relationships. The authors also examine the existence of a correlation between the characteristics of the business processes of an industry and the preferred formation of inter-firm relationships using an analysis of several business areas.