Power-based value capture over punctuated time: cashmere supply chains and business continuity

Gilani, Sayed Aiden Saeed (2025) Power-based value capture over punctuated time: cashmere supply chains and business continuity. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

Supply chain management (SCM) assumes collaboration is central to good practice and profitability. Empirical research shows that practitioners frequently choose opportunism over collaboration, and supply chain collaboration (SCC) requires appropriate cultures, resource complementarity, and incentives to succeed. This research further investigated this issue by exploring how cashmere value chain collaborative alliances sustain power-based value capture over punctuated time.

A qualitative longitudinal single case study of cashmere value chains was used for localised theory building. Data was collected from historical documentation, 30 semi-structured interviews and onsite observations before conducting a thematic analysis. The findings revealed that firms inherit power-based value capture depending on the relative value of their resources for a business opportunity. High-power firms adopt adversarial relationships and trap partners into illusionary collaborations over multiple business cycles. The longer opportunism cycles last, the harder it is for firms to break free as unfavourable conditions transform into cultural norms. Alternatively, low-power firms use genuine collaborations to mitigate opportunism cycles. If relationships continue without change, high-power firms can also become hostage to their growing convenience and sunk cost-based dependencies from long-established illusionary and genuine collaborations.

The opportunism cycle concept validates and extends the inter-partner learning theory and, to a lesser extent, Power theory and Path Dependence theory. First, it extends Hamel's priority shifts and external disruptor concepts by showing that these elements determine business developmental paths and validate the path dependence theory concept of multiple lock-ins. It also extends Hamel's concept of competitive collaboration by showing that firms can use illusionary collaborations to trick partners into creating psychological slack to extend the value capture potential beyond the limits of psychological slack. It validates that Khanna’s predicted scenarios (three-legged fallacy, hesitant winners and reluctant losers) can occur passively but also shows how firms can actively create them. Second, it validated all six power bases and their relevance to different stages of the opportunity cycle, forming an effective tool for manipulating perceived power dynamics. It also contradicted Cox's assumption that collaborations do not account for power dynamics by showing that they do by actively avoiding their consideration. Third, it validated the power architecture theory prediction that network embeddedness facilitates opportunism rather than collaboration over time. Fourth, it identified path-breaking processes to extend the path dependence theory. On a practical level, the research explained that collaborations fail because practitioners fail to distinguish between genuine and illusionary collaborations and showed how practitioners can recognise when to implement and avoid opportunism cycles. The research concluded by identifying the need for future studies to adopt more advanced research methodologies and explore the implications of instant access to difficult-to-acquire resources.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Subjects: H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor; H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management
• Colleges/Schools: College of Social Sciences > Adam Smith Business School
• Supervisor's Name: Paton, Professor Robert and Smart, Dr. Alison
• Date of Award: 2025
• Depositing User: Theses Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2025-85179
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 12 Jun 2025 11:17
• Last Modified: 12 Jun 2025 11:19
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.85179
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/85179