Experience : which impact on success in a logistic partnership ?

One can note an increasing popularity of partnership practices, for several years, in academic literature as well as in the practice of organizations. In spite of this unproved popularity and the many advantages of traditionally recognized co-operative practices, the levels of performance obtained are very heterogeneous. Consequently, it appears legitimate and necessary to question ourselves about the elements which are likely to increase the capacity of the partnership to achieve its goals. On this topic a more precise problem holds our attention: the part played by experience in the operation of the logistic partnerships and finally in their success. We distinguish three aspects of experience and three potential sources of learning in the management of the partnerships: that resulting from the accumulation of experience of co-operation with multiple partners, that resulting from the accumulation of experience with a particular partner, finally that resulting from the interpersonal experience of the actors of the partnership. Our results, based on an investigation carried out by questionnaire, suggest that partnership success is significantly and positively associated with the experience of partnership management, the experience of joint work and the interpersonal complicity. On the other hand, our results reveal an unexpected negative relation between the duration and depth of the relationships and the success of the partnership.