Testing a Life-Cycle Theory of Cooperative Interorganizational Relationships: Movement Across Stages and Performance

This research examines the evolution of cooperative interorganizational relationships and provides an empirical test of four propositions from the DSO (Dwyer et al. 1987) life-cycle theory, and one proposition from the RV (Ring and Van de Ven 1994) theory of relationship development. Using primary data from over 1,500 resellers in a channel of distribution, we find that the mature phase is not the pinnacle of the relationship lifecycle;...