Interorganizational preparedness in business-to-business relationships

Abstract

In recent years, business-to-business firms have experienced increasing uncertainty, disruptive events, and major crises that have challenged their businesses. While these developments have triggered a focus on firms' preparedness to handle uncertainty, surprisingly little has been said about preparedness in an interorganizational context. This oversight is noteworthy, as interorganizational contexts are not only the dominant settings within business markets but also key drivers of the development of resilience and responsiveness. This conceptual paper outlines the concept of preparedness in business-to-business relationships and suggests a research agenda for interorganizational preparedness—an important concept in a fast-changing and uncertain business environment.