**4.3 Business-relationship morphology**

The characteristics of business relationships are influence the interaction of the main producer and his 1st-tier suppliers in the course of the inter-company order execution. Five features were derived and are set in the framework of a business-relationship morphology.

The feature level of institutionalization addresses the intensity of the business relationship between the participating parties in a business network. The level of institutionalization is closely related to the second feature information infrastructure. If a supplier is for instance both legally and economically independent from the producer, their business relationship is project-specifically institutionalized. In this case, the business partners often do not have a common information infrastructure but apply a rather conventional exchange of information via fax, email or telephone. However, the more intense a business relationship is and the more integrated the information systems of the partners are, the easier it is usually to cope with the need for information in the course of the order execution. The feature stipulation of the sourcing conditions determines to which extent the collaboration, concerning rights and duties as well as their enforceability, between the producer and the supplier is legally set prior to the actual producer-supplier-interaction. The legal framework, set by the governmental legislation, provides the basis for optional, far more detailed contracts and policies negotiated between the business partners (Wildemann, 2000).


Fig. 4. Business-relationship morphology

The last two relationship-related features, namely the direction of interaction and the availability of planning information, are both closely related to the last mentioned feature stipulation of the sourcing conditions (Wildemann, 2000). These two features basically determine the producer´s options of accessing planning-relevant information of the supplier. An unilateral interaction implies, that relevant planning information is provided by the supplier without any further interference of the producer. It necessitate an early stipulation of information and the determination of adequate feedback-times, which results in high efforts of coordination and planning during the early phases of a project but rather

The characteristics of business relationships are influence the interaction of the main producer and his 1st-tier suppliers in the course of the inter-company order execution. Five features were derived and are set in the framework of a business-relationship morphology. The feature level of institutionalization addresses the intensity of the business relationship between the participating parties in a business network. The level of institutionalization is closely related to the second feature information infrastructure. If a supplier is for instance both legally and economically independent from the producer, their business relationship is project-specifically institutionalized. In this case, the business partners often do not have a common information infrastructure but apply a rather conventional exchange of information via fax, email or telephone. However, the more intense a business relationship is and the more integrated the information systems of the partners are, the easier it is usually to cope with the need for information in the course of the order execution. The feature stipulation of the sourcing conditions determines to which extent the collaboration, concerning rights and duties as well as their enforceability, between the producer and the supplier is legally set prior to the actual producer-supplier-interaction. The legal framework, set by the governmental legislation, provides the basis for optional, far more detailed

contracts and policies negotiated between the business partners (Wildemann, 2000).

The last two relationship-related features, namely the direction of interaction and the availability of planning information, are both closely related to the last mentioned feature stipulation of the sourcing conditions (Wildemann, 2000). These two features basically determine the producer´s options of accessing planning-relevant information of the supplier. An unilateral interaction implies, that relevant planning information is provided by the supplier without any further interference of the producer. It necessitate an early stipulation of information and the determination of adequate feedback-times, which results in high efforts of coordination and planning during the early phases of a project but rather

**4.3 Business-relationship morphology** 

Fig. 4. Business-relationship morphology

small efforts at later phases. The exact opposite typically prevails for bilateral interactions during which planning information is only available on request. The two features thus also provide information about when the producer and a particular supplier interact during the inter-company order execution.
