Value-independent Third-party Orchestrators as Catalysts of Business Collaboration

Collaboration is recognized by policy-makers as a key element in innovation-led economic growth. Collaborative relationships form organically, but also can be actively facilitated. Studies of business collaboration facilitation typically concentrate on value-appropriating commercial organizations, acting as hub orchestrators or knowledge-brokers. Little attention has been paid to potentially more trustable and effective value-independent facilitators. The attributes and activities of these organizations were empirically investigated using grounded theory and situational analysis. Value-independent, third-party orchestrators (i3POs) are demarcated from related concepts, and are found to vary considerably in capability and motivation as collaboration orchestrators. A reappraisal of these organizations' drivers, from the perspective of collective action theory, suggests how more i3POs may be encouraged to follow the practices of leading examples, with positive economic outcomes. Membership-based i3POs, such as trade associations, have longer term potential as collaboration orchestrators than transient business-growth programs but are under-exploited in this regard.