Identifying the basis of collaboration performance in facility service business

Abstract

Purpose

The focus in the facility service business has traditionally been on operative level outcomes such as customer satisfaction and technical quality. These measures do not support business relationship management and co‐creative development. The article aims to propose a comprehensive theoretical framework to evaluate, develop, monitor and manage the collaborative business relation from both customer and service provider perspectives to co‐create mutual value.

Design/methodology/approach

The theoretical framework for collaboration performance measurement is developed through empirical study of seven dyadic facility service procurement cases. Empirical study included 62 interviews of managers involved in relationship management on strategic, tactical and operative levels in both customer and service provider organizations.

Findings

The empirical study resulted following 13 measurement areas that indicate the collaboration performance in facility service procurement relation: customer benefits, supplier benefits, collaboration efficiency, operational fluency, conflicts recovery, flexibility and adaptability, execution capability, trust, actor incentive alignment, goal alignment and shared vision, strategic integrity, learning and development capability and uncertainty management. The article focuses on presenting the measurement areas of relational collaboration performance and discusses on their implications to performance measurement and management. Through this article the aim is to induce discussion on collaboration performance measurement and management, and challenge the colleague researchers and practitioners in the industry to comment and complement the proposed framework.

Research limitations/implications

The results of the study introduce a new concept of collaboration performance and provide valuable and novel insight on related elements. The theoretical framework derived in this study is based on empirical data from facility services business and its suitability to a wider organizational context is not tested empirically in this study.

Practical implications

The framework identified provides to both practitioners and researchers with an expanded viewpoint to measure and manage collaboration performance from both the service provider and customer sides.

Originality/value

The article proposes a new concept of collaboration performance and comprehensive theoretical framework for collaboration performance measurement and management.

Citation

Heimbürger, M. and Dietrich, P. (2012), "Identifying the basis of collaboration performance in facility service business", Facilities, Vol. 30 No. 11/12, pp. 504-516. https://doi.org/10.1108/02632771211252333