Extended dependency network diagrams: adding a strategic dimension
Journal of Global Operations and Strategic Sourcing
ISSN: 2398-5364
Article publication date: 20 February 2017
Abstract
Purpose
Organizations increasingly form or join collaborations to gain access to resources paramount for achieving a sustained competitive advantage. This paper aims to propose an extension to the established dependency network diagram (DND) technique to better facilitate analysis, design and, ultimately, strategic management of such collaborations.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the resource dependence theory, the constructs of power and secondary dependency are operationalized and integrated into the original DND technique. New rules and an updated algorithm for how to construct extended DNDs are provided.
Findings
The value of the proposed extension of the DND technique is illustrated by analysis of an application hosting collaboration case study from the Australian financial service industry.
Research limitations/implications
This study provides preliminary evidence for strategically managing resource collaborations. Future research could further test empirically the usefulness of the proposed extension of the DND technique and how much it contributes to better understanding resource collaborations.
Practical implications
The proposed extension of the DND technique enables managers to perform a broader analysis of dependencies among participants in a collaboration, helping them to more accurately comprehend the relationships between the entities in their collaborative environment and, thus, being in a better position of strategically managing resource dependencies.
Originality/value
The proposed extension of the DND technique makes a central contribution to the extant literature by adding a strategic dimension to a visualization technique used to represent collaborative environments.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Carson Woo and reviewers and participants of the Americas Conference on Information System, Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, and UKAIS Conference for their constructive feedback and encouraging comments on earlier versions of this research.
Citation
Ulbrich, F. and Borman, M. (2017), "Extended dependency network diagrams: adding a strategic dimension", Journal of Global Operations and Strategic Sourcing, Vol. 10 No. 1, pp. 42-66. https://doi.org/10.1108/JGOSS-05-2016-0019
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited