Samenvatting

Abstract
Although organizations, both shippers and logistics service providers, are convinced of the potential of collaboration, it is still not successful in many cases. Therefore, collaboration in logistics is chosen as central theme for this paper. The contribution to this topic is twofold. First, the paper classifies different types of collaboration. This makes clear that collaboration between organizations differ in scope, objective, horizon and dimension.
Secondly, the paper provides a framework that can be used to understand collaboration decisions. In this framework four base elements of collaboration are distinguished: drivers, objectives, variables and actions. The framework shows that there is a strong cohesion between these elements, and that collaboration is a continuous process. A deeper analysis of the third element (variables) results in the proposition that a lot of variables influence a collaboration decision, and that these variables are interrelated. These two observations deepen the complex character of collaboration. The analysis also identifies trust and commitment as dominant variables.