While studies on alliances have been substantial in the international business literature, much is still unexplored in understanding what alliance performance really is and how superior alliance performance is facilitated (Das & Teng 2003). Drawing from research on alliances, we develop a theoretical framework to examine alliance performance by integrating a partner analysis approach, focusing on alliance trust, alliance partners' social capital, and knowledge development from alliance relationships. We consider the level of mutual trust between alliance partners to be the precursor to such relationship (Das & Teng 1998). Trust, we argue, subsequently builds and enhances the partners' social capital. Two types of social capital are considered in this article: internal social capital and external social capital. In developing our framework, we further subscribe to the notion that knowledge is a contributing factor to superior alliance performance, and consider how such relationships influence the development of partners' knowledge in terms of the development in the tacit firm-specific and the more explicit market-specific knowledge. Key managerial implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

This article evaluates the impact of academic research in management and business on a sample of the leaders of Australia's largest companies and public sector organizations. The data from a questionnaire survey conducted in 2005 indicate that the impact of the collective research outputs of business/management academics on senior private and public sector leaders is almost non-existent. The implications of these findings for the conduct of research in business and management in the future are evaluated, as well as the emerging challenges we face from new non-university research and business/management education providers. The broader consequences of a possible paradigm shift from a largely academic research/teaching orientation, towards a more explicitly professional and business/industry orientation are discussed towards the end of the article.

The idea that organizations need to adopt structures and practices that facilitate ‘creativity’ has become a central theme in theories of managing organisational innovation and success. This idea has been deployed in organisational theory, HRM, marketing and other domains of organization studies. For many theorists and practitioners in this area, organisational creativity is something to be distilled and managed as an element of organisational performance.

We argue, however, that this process of appropriation from the creative arts is subject to a number of problematic transitions. Our starting point is the notion of creativity itself. Within the creative arts, the question of what constitutes creativity and its relationship to artistic practice is subject to considerable debate. This debate centres on the question of whether creativity represents an essentialist and inexplicable (even spiritual) component of artistic practice or whether creativity is a trait of work and cannot be attributed as a unique aspect of art.

However it is defined, we argue that the notion of ‘creativity in business’ conveniently ignores essential elements of what constitutes creativity. In the process of being appropriated from the arts, the concept of creativity, we argue, has been ‘hollowed out’ and refashioned to suit the structures of organization as institution, and its needs as a business organization. This appropriated view of creativity has, in turn, been imposed on arts organisations, which are impelled to see themselves as ‘creative businesses’. In both cases, the mantra of creativity provides nothing more than a means to control individuals and provide them with a false hope that contributing to the success of business will provide a means to self fulfilment.

Successful buyer/seller relationships have become recognised as essential for firms to remain competitive in the marketplace. Today's business climate encourages firms to not just compete on product or service attributes, but also on their ability to differentiate themselves from other firms. Supply chains provide firms this point of differentiation ensuring firms better competitive positioning as a result of being able to leverage themselves on the strengths of the supply chain, not just on the individual strengths of the firm. However, to maintain an effective role as a participant in a supply chain, firms must be able to develop and maintain cooperative relationships with other firms. In order to develop these relationships, firms need to be able to distinguish between different levels of relationship and be able to understand which relationships are worth developing further and which ones are not.

Whilst supply chain literature acknowledges firm progression from transactional to relational exchange, there is less agreement of the number of levels of both buyer/seller relationships in this theoretical continuum. This article proposes a theoretical continuum of relationship levels based on cross discipline literature and identifies objective classification criteria for relationship levels from both the buyer and the seller. Economic, behavioural and relational research is collectively used to explain the complexity of the ever evolving nature of inter-firm relationships. The article concludes by establishing a research model that proposes these levels of relationships are identifiable for both the buyer and the seller.

This paper reports the outcomes from a teaching and learning research project at an Australian University centred on improving a third year course in industrial relations. The paper addresses the cognitive and affective outcomes of the course. Cognitively, students developed a greater understanding of the processes of industrial relations and their interconnectedness; however, research and academic skills were identified as in need of further improvement. Affectively, students responded to the challenges of the course, increasing their confidence and self-efficacy and being better prepared for the transition from student to practitioner. While the course in question was a final year ‘capstone’ course, the findings are applicable to all who are interested in designing, or redesigning, any business course that attempts to integrate theory and practice.