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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to elaborate the reason behind a sustainable guanxi network through the introduction of the collaborative strategy in the Taiwanese shoe industry.Design/methodology/approachLiterature review in the area of Chinese business culture, and guanxi network is used to elaborate the information obtained from the company.FindingsThis paper highlights that the belief of sincerity and trustworthiness has refined to the organization culture that supports the sustainability of Taiwanese guanxi network. Besides, the transaction cost theory, resource‐based view, and specific relationship investment has become a hinder strategy for Taiwanese organization to maintain the business relationship. This paper introduces an interesting collaborative strategy between three parties, the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) supplier, the machinery manufacturer, and the end‐user (the branding). Although there is no direct business flows between the end‐user and the machinery manufacturer, the specific relationship investment between these two parties are tight and cannot be separated. This has ensured the proper business flows between the OEM supplier and the end‐user as well as the OEM supplier and the machinery manufacturer.Originality/valueThis paper illustrates that a guanxi network is not sufficient to ensure a long‐term business relationship to be established. Indeed, the organization culture as well as the consideration on the transaction cost and resources from each party does have a great impact on the collaboration relationship to be successful.

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to develop a model not only for determining the key factors in selecting optimal international express suppliers, but also for extracting the priority strategic suggestions of management for international express suppliers.Design/methodology/approach– The proposed model comprises two parts. The first part identifies suitable criteria for evaluating international express supplier by reviewing studies from 1989 to 2009, after which the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is applied to determine the relative weights of the criteria. The second part adopts grey relational analysis to extract five priority managing strategies from which 16 strategies are developed based on three concern factors derived from the first part.Findings– The results show customers' top three concerns when selecting international express companies. In addition, the results show the five priority strategic suggestions to international express suppliers.Research limitations/implications– The research has two major limitations. First, this study was conducted using a sample of companies operating in Taiwan. Thus, other countries such as Japan and South Korea should be examined in future research. Second, this study focuses on the application of fuzzy AHP techniques to identify key selection criteria and service strategies of international express suppliers. Other important aspects, such as performance evaluation and performance prediction in the selection of international express suppliers, were not involved in this study because of the limited research scope.Originality/value– The proposed model helps international express suppliers enhance their competitiveness and raise their customers' satisfaction.

Purpose– The purpose of this research is to investigate how companies in the reinforcing bar industry and the construction industry operate and implement brand alliances.Design/methodology/approach– This research uses a qualitative interview survey and the grounded theory method to extract key factors of brand alliance development and management in the targeted industries. The interview survey included six managers from different construction companies in Taiwan.Findings– This research identifies four common firm-level operational process stages (core categories) of brand alliances including different multidimensional factors, and proposes a conceptual model based on these identified core process stages. The four common core process stages include selection of brand alliance partners, communication with brand alliance partners, enforcement of brand alliances and assessment of brand alliances.Originality/value– The proposed model offers a tentative explanation of the development and management of brand alliances between the reinforcing bar industry and the construction industry. This study represents an initial research attempt in this field and explains how reinforcing bar and construction companies operate and implement brand alliances.