Handbook of Management Scales/Technical exchanges

Definition
Technical exchanges are understood as small-scale exchanges of technical information.

Items

 * Our engineers and sales staff have a close relationship with our partner’s staff.
 * In the development process, direction of communication is bilateral rather than unilateral.
 * Frequent contact between our partner and our engineers is important.
 * Through informal discussion, our partner often communicates important engineering information to us.
 * Communication with our partner often begins to occur earlier in the development process.
 * Informal communications often reduce lead time in the development process.

Source

 * Kotabe et al. (2002): Gaining from Vertical Partnerships: Knowledge Transfer, Relationship Duration, and Supplier Performance Improvement in the U.S. and Japanese Automotive Industries. Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 24, No. 4, pp. 293–316

Comments
The authors remarked that a potential issue with the last item is "that it mentions both a practice and an outcome". The unit of analysis remains unclear; e.g., in some items it seems to be the inter-organizational level, whereas in some items it seems to be the staff/staff level. Do items containing words like "engineering" and "development" necessarily measure the exchange of "technical information"?