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Introduction
The subject of supply chain collaboration has gained importance in the last decade, with growth in both the diversity of management initiatives being promoted in this area and the number of academic publications ([53] Kotzab, 1999; [4] Barratt, 2003; [41] Holweg et al. , 2005). Most of the research in the subject appears to follow the assumption that intra-organizational relationships imply a closer collaboration than inter-organizational ones ([86] Williamson, 1981; [25] Ellram, 1991; [59] Lambert et al. , 1996). However, despite the fact that some research appears to show contradictory evidence ([54] Koulikoff-Souviron and Harrison, 2006) no previous work into the validity of this assumption has been found. This paper sets out to address this gap by testing our assumption by comparing the degree of collaboration in both inter- and intra-organizational relationship.
This research is situated in the UK food and drinks industry, an industry that comprises a variety of organizations performing activities such as farming, manufacturing, catering, and retailing. Together these organizations play an essential economic and social role with sales for over £148 billion, around 8 percent of the gross domestic product and employing at least 3.7 million people (12.4 percent of the UK workforce) ([47] IGD, 2006a).
As in any industry, trends in technology and management thinking have had an effect on the food and drinks supply chains. For instance, the shift towards alliances and partnerships has taken place in parallel with the development and implementation of collaborative approaches in industry such as vendor managed inventory (VMI) ([20] Dong and Xu, 2002; [19] Disney and Towill, 2003), Continuous Replenishment ([11] Cachon and Fisher, 1997), efficient consumer response (ECR) ([56] Kurt Salmon Associates, 1993; [89] Wood, 1993; [53] Kotzab, 1999) and its initiative of collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment (CPFR) ([6] Barratt and Oliveira, 2001; [4] Barratt, 2003) ([82], [83] Whiteoak, 1994, 1999; [32], [33] Fernie, 1994, 1999). As the industry has matured, the importance of collaborative strategies ([77] Stank et al. , 1999a) and alliance performance has grown ([45] IGD, 2000; [63] Mintel, 2001, [78] Stank et al. , 1999b).
Markets have become global, customers have become more demanding, and there is constant pressure to reduce costs ([28], [29] Fearne, 1994, 1998; [65] Palmer, 1996; [11] Cachon and Fisher, 1997; [30]...