Creating high performance partnerships in Asia: the case of NEH the Philippines

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to evaluate a previously developed framework for creating so-called high performance partnerships (HPPs), which yields a competitive advantage for all firms in the partnership, in the Asian context. Design/methodology/approach - The HPP framework is evaluated for a Philippine organization that produces, markets and ships bananas in Asia. The evaluation entailed conducting a questionnaire, statistically redeveloping the framework and organizing several feedback workshops with the partner firms, the latter aiming to discuss and agree to improvements that each partner could implement to achieve high performance in the value chain. Findings - The results showed that the evaluated HPP framework can be used to score the quality of each partner in the chain and to yield targeted recommendations to improve the performance of each partner firm. The subsequent application of the recommendations derived from applying the HPP framework created substantial profits for the partner firms. Originality/value - Originally developed in a western context and applied to a value chain of European organizations, the HPP framework was successfully applied for the first time in the Asian context, to evaluate the performance of an Asian value chain and identify areas for improvement of the Asian partner firms. As such, the results contribute both to the HPP literature, filling a gap therein, and to practice, as Asian organizations can use with confidence a framework which has been validated in their context.