Asymmetry of stakeholders' perceptions as an obstacle for collaboration in inter-organizational projects The case of medicine traceability projects

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to overlook influential factors associated with the collaboration itself, and to explore the effect of these factors on inter-organizational relationship. Design/methodology/approach This paper analyses two different technology projects requiring inter-organization collaboration for implementing medicine traceability: end-to-end verification system and e-pedigree. Based on a survey where 72 pharmaceutical organizations exposed their perceptions about each technological project, collaboration factors are identified. Findings This paper shows that pharmaceutical organizations in this study perceived differently the cost and benefits from traceability project. Organizations involved experience neither organizational nor technological proximity, impacting negatively collaboration in the inter-organizational project. Practical implications - To strengthen collaboration, organization from different levels should consider how close they are each other, and this is at the geographic, organizational and technological level. Geographic proximity is defined as physical closeness, organizational proximity can be understood as the degree to which organizations are similar in interests and structure, and technological proximity concerns the similarity between the systems used to mediate communication and store information. Originality/value This paper presents empirical evidence on inter-organizational collaboration for industrial projects (i.e. implementing medicine traceability systems). It demonstrates proximity is a significant factor in producing inter-organizational collaboration success. Indeed, organizations experiencing proximity have a better knowledge of actors involved in the inter-organization project.