Building relationships with cognitively and relationally distant suppliers to co-explore discontinuous innovations.

Summary Co-exploring concepts with distant suppliers, on cognitive and relational levels, favors the identification of discontinuous innovations. However, few studies focus on the ways in which these relationships are constructed. Based on a longitudinal study of a company that co-explored discontinuous innovations with remote suppliers, we inductively highlight two characteristics of the process and organization adopted to build these relationships. We highlight the transparency of the co-exploration process that supports a progressive mutual commitment. This process is carried out by a dedicated actor, who has access to both the technical experts and to the company's leaders who make strategic decisions on innovation and development areas. This actor is thus one of the vectors of the company's organizational ambidexterity, since it allows the development of these relationships in parallel with long-term relationships with privileged partners.