Compete or collaborate?

Leading expert in innovation and organisation management leaves us asking whether organisations that collaborate are more likely to succeed.

Most MBA alumni and students will remember Professor Charles C. Snow from their studies. He co-authored one of the most influential books in strategic management, Organizational Strategy, Structure, and Process (McGraw-Hill, 1978; reissued by Stanford​ University Press, 2003), where he devised the famous Miles-Snow Framework, a concept still being taught in management classes.

35 years on, two more books, several publications later and Professor Snow’s research has evolved. He recently visited AGSM @ UNSW Business School as the AGSM Unilever Distinguished Visitor. He spent the week-long visit sharing his latest research to over 400 AGSM alumni, students and staff, including special events for AGSM alumni in Sydney and Melbourne. Charles presented alumni with his latest research on actor-oriented organisations where he described a successful case study of collaborating with other organisations to share resources, as opposed to traditionally competing or merely cooperating. The findings are featured in his article “Organizing in the Age of Competition, Cooperation, and Collaboration,” Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies 23 (2016).

For those that couldn’t attend the events, we are pleased to present a podcast from the Sydney alumni event: ​

​Charles C. Snow is Professor Emeritus of Strategy and Organization at The Pennsylvania State University. He is the Founding Co-editor of the Journal of Organization Design and currently holds visiting professor positions in Norway, Denmark, and Slovenia.​