Factors Influencing the Cooperative Relationship between Enterprises in the Supply Chain of China’s Marine Engineering Equipment Manufacturing Industry-An study based on GRNN-DEMATEL method

Grounded Theory was first proposed by Glaser and Strauss [34, 35]. It is a process of transforming data into concepts by inductive method after systematic data collection and mining and hereby establishing theory, and a more scientific qualitative study method. Grounded Theory emphasizes the collection and collation of data, and starts with ensuring the correctness and credibility of study conclusions. Its main purpose is to describe the properties and significance of the phenomenon from the theoretical level, and hereby establish a theory to collate, summarize, deduce and normalize various documents [36, 37].

Based on the theoretical sampling principle, in this Paper, the data is collected from multiple channels to improve the reliability, credibility and validity of study conclusions. The main sources of data selected are as follows: (1) enterprise’s official website [data collation covers the development history, profile, annual report, major news, organizational structure, and core technologies (including submersible drilling platform, 981 drilling platform, jack-up drilling platform, deep-water pipe-laying crane vessel) of enterprises, as well as R&D team building, infrastructure supporting, etc.]; (2) TV, network and other media: to collect character interviews about marine engineering equipment manufacturing enterprises, to read/watch relevant articles and videos; (3) Network and TV media: to collect the development trend information, statistical yearbooks, news reports, industrial policies, regional policies and industrial development reports of marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry; (4) Phone call or face-to-face interviews with middle and senior enterprise managers: to collect relevant information about inter-enterprise cooperation. In order to ensure the heterogeneity and reliability of data collected, there are four main stages in data collection [38], as shown in the Figure 1 below.

Fig. 1

In the above steps, the work on collection and collation of relevant data lasted 12 months. In the early stage, the data on development background, growth process, major adjustment, etc. of upstream and downstream enterprises including 6 marine engineering final assembly enterprises and 18 final assembly enterprises were collected and collated. Besides, based on the company profile, rules and regulations, and important development strategies on the enterprise websites and brochures, data totaling 20,000 words was collated. In-depth interviews with senior and middle managers of four cooperative upstream and downstream enterprises were conducted, based on which interview memorandum (including outline, notes, summary, etc.) totaling 60,000 words was formed. Major corporations for whom the relevant data is collated are as shown in the following Table 1 .

In this Paper, the Grounded Theory study method is used to collate and analyze the collected data and to refine the concepts, categories and their internal relationships from a large number of surveys and collected network self-intersections [38] to relatively, comprehensively and objectively identify the factors influencing the cooperative relationship between enterprises in the supply chain of China’s marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry. At present, the most widely used Grounded Theory study method is procedural grounded theory study method.

Open coding refers to the process of gradually conceptualizing and categorizing the acquired data records, and then correctly reflecting the data content with the concepts and categories, and breaking, crushing and re-integrating the data records and the abstracted concepts. The main purpose of open coding is to identify phenomena, define concepts and discover categories, i.e., to deal with the problem of data convergence [18]. Defining concepts refers to the process of summarizing different original data, establishing different free nodes and finally naming them unifiedly. Discovering categories refers to the process of converging and naming similar concepts. Based on above related original data, in this Paper, the data is coded and modeled, and meanwhile, the reserved part of the original data is used for theoretical saturation test. In order to ensure the correctness of understanding, through collating and classifying the original data and reading and analyzing the interview data of marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry and the related industry news trends word by word with the help of NVIVO 10.0 program, 316 original sentences are sorted out and more than 600 nodes are abstracted from the original sentences, based on which 100 concepts are synthesized. Category is the re-classification and re-integration for many concepts, i.e. category is the subsequent analysis focus [19].

Axial coding is a better development category based on the property and dimension of category. In this Paper, the relevance of different categories is obtained through studying the open coding, and further summarization and integration is performed to form a more conceptual fundamental category. Based on the analysis for the current situation of technological innovation and development and inter-enterprise cooperative relationship in China’s marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry, 34 categories were summarized into 7 fundamental categories.

Selective coding is to systematically link the core category with other categories by logical relations, and to complete the categories that are not fully developed. The main task of this process is to identify the core category [40] which can dominate other categories. All concepts are explained concisely by developing story lines, canonical relation structure and developed categories. In this Paper, the canonical relation structure is used to determine the core category, i.e. cooperative relationship between enterprises in the supply chain of marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry, and three fundamental categories, i.e. selection of partners for cooperation between enterprises in the supply chain, behavior for cooperation between enterprises in the supply chain, and external environment, based on which the story line of the core category is described. The behavior for cooperation between enterprises in the supply chain of marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry determines the development of the cooperative relationship between enterprises. The performance of the core enterprises in the supply chain is used to check the quality of the cooperative relationship. Some uncontrollable external factors are also important influencing factors for the development of enterprises.

The so-called saturation means that the data collection can be stopped if data on the characteristics of a certain category cannot be further developed, that is, theory tends to be saturated. In order to ensure the creditability of the study, in this Paper, theoretical saturation test is performed for above conclusions. In this study, open coding, axial coding and selective coding were performed for the reserved 1/3 of original materials, and no frequent new concepts and categories were found in the testing process, so above theoretical model is saturated.

Through open coding, axial coding, selective coding and analysis and study on the canonical relationship structure, the core category (i.e. cooperation between enterprises in the supply chain of marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry) is determined, and on this basis, model of the factors influencing the cooperative relationship between enterprises of China’s marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry is constructed (as shown in Fig. 2 ). The study indicates that the 7 major influencing factors (i.e. fundamental categories) are respectively enterprise’s operational and technical capabilities, corporate reputation, enterprise’s willingness to cooperate, trust between enterprises in the supply chain, communication and collaboration between enterprises in the supply chain, opportunism and external environment.

Fig. 2

1) Enterprise’s operational and technical capabilities

Enterprise’s operational capability is the comprehensive embodiment of the enterprise’s own capability in its daily business activities. Especially when the operation objectives of high-tech enterprises are consistent with those of other enterprises, the enterprises will express friendly willingness to cooperate. Enterprise’s operational capability reflects the timeliness, management capability, product capability and ability to react to market conditions of the enterprises for operating the cooperation in the management of cooperation. The operation cost reflects the enterprise’s operational capability. Enterprise’s operation management runs through the whole process of production, manufacturing and cooperation of the enterprise. Enterprises acquire advanced technology and information from the outside world, and then create new technology and information by combining such acquired advanced technology and information with internal knowledge to realize technological innovation and diffusion and achieve technological knowledge reserve and accumulation. This kind of technological knowledge contains lots of tacit knowledge and exists in the process of organization, so technical capability can only be acquired through learning, which is a long-term cumulative process. The effectiveness of the cumulative learning depends on the recipient’s preparatory technical knowledge and effort intensity. In this sense, it is consistent with An Tongliang’s enterprise’s technological capability concept: An Tongliang believes that enterprise’s technological capability is cumulative learning in which the enterprise chooses, acquires, digests, absorbs, improves and creates technology and integrates such technology with other resources to produce products and provide service [41]. That is to say, enterprise’s technological capability is the collection of enterprise’s ability to acquire information and other resources, and the technician’s ability to integrate, reserve, and organize and coordinate resources. From the perspective of science and technology, enterprise’s technological capability is a system integration function that is supported by enterprise’s financial ability, centered on and determined by product innovation ability and process innovation ability, and serves for realization of technological innovation strategy. Technological innovation always takes place in specific economic environment, factor background, cultural background and organizational structure. Economic environment and other factors determine the technological innovation capability of different enterprises, and meanwhile determine the primary factor for enterprises in the supply chain to choose partners.

2) Corporate reputation

Corporate reputation: the company’s behavior and norms have been highly recognized or convinced in the society, so the company can obtain higher social status and greater support in the economic market, and acquire the necessary resources and opportunities or the ability to withstand various uncertainties in the future. In the cooperation between node enterprises in the supply chain, corporate reputation refers to the comprehensive evaluation on the enterprise by internal and external actors, including raw material suppliers, manufacturers, equipment enterprises, governments, research institutions, media and end users. Such evaluation is based on the information transmission and interaction in the company’s social network. Corporate reputation is an important source of sustainable competitive advantage, and also comprehensive evaluation on the business activities of the enterprise in the market. Its value comes from the asymmetry of information. Firstly, enterprises with positive reputation can obtain more trust from their partners and can easily acquire more opportunities to cooperate closely with other enterprises, and vice versa. Secondly, corporate reputation can be used as a restraint and incentive mechanism between enterprises, and can reasonably reduce costs. Besides, from the perspective of enterprises themselves, in the reputation value itself, the incentive effect of corporate reputation has characteristics of perennity and complexity, far higher than the short-term interests of enterprises. Thirdly, good corporate reputation can help enterprises consolidate and promote the establishment and maintenance of transaction relationship with node enterprises in the supply chain.

3) Enterprise’s willingness to cooperate

Willingness to cooperate: whether the member enterprises of cooperation organization are willing to coordinate and cooperate with the other members of the organization, whether they are willing to take a series of activities beneficial to the development of the organization, and whether their behaviors can bring benefits to the member enterprises and achieve the anticipated goal of cooperation. Competition, efficiency, information and learning demands are all external manifestations of enterprises to achieve their survival goals fundamentally, while the technology, R&D and market entry demands of enterprises are classified according to their strategic intentions, which is the way to expand their survival space. For enterprises in the supply chain of China’s marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry, technological upgrading and expansion for their survival space are the essential needs to expand their cooperation. Therefore, clarifying the enterprise’s willingness to cooperate is conducive to achieving an effective cooperation system between enterprises, reducing the risk of research and development for both sides, reducing the cost of opportunism, and acquiring accurate cooperation information, and is an important precondition for establishing an efficient cooperative strategic alliance between enterprises

4) Trust between enterprises in the supply chain

Trust between enterprises in the supply chain: Node enterprises in the supply chain, including suppliers, manufacturers, customers, intermediaries and other organizations, believe that partners have the ability to abide by the rules and fulfill their commitments during the cooperation process and firmly believe that the partners will not betray to gain more personal benefits. Trust between enterprises is a key and core factor for enterprises to maintain and develop cooperation, which facilitates information sharing between enterprises, reduces transaction costs and opportunism, and enhances the stability of mutual cooperation and cooperation ability to respond to uncertain external environment.

5) Communication and collaboration between enterprises in the supply chain

When node enterprises in the supply chain choose to cooperate, problems such as uneven profit distribution, unsmooth information flow and asymmetric information sharing are likely to occur in the process of cooperation. Therefore, the communication and collaboration mechanism between enterprises in the supply chain is an operation mechanism that is based on the sharing of resources, technology and business strategy, brings the upstream and downstream enterprises of the node enterprises in the supply chain together, and can realize inter-enterprise sharing of information and technology, absorption and transfer of knowledge, conflict resolution, rational reduction of R&D risks, etc., and it aims to maintain the cooperation between enterprises in the supply chain and ensure the enterprises to obtain the expected benefits as stipulated in the contract and improve the overall competitive advantages.

6) Opportunism

Opportunism refers to a kind of speculative behavior that damages the interests of partners due to a cunning means like deception, concealment or distortion performed by the node enterprise in the supply chain to maximize its own benefits in the face of asymmetric information transmission in cooperation.

These fundamental categories and their corresponding categories affect the cooperative relationship between enterprises in China’s marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry in varying degrees, and the fundamental categories are interrelated and interact with each other. If one of the factors is unbalanced or missing, it will lead to the decline of the cooperative relationship between enterprises, and ultimately result in the decline of the performance of cooperation between enterprises, affecting the competitiveness of the entire supply chain. Therefore, only by identifying the factors influencing the cooperation between enterprises in marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry, can we better realize the technological innovation of enterprises and maintain the development of core competitiveness of enterprises.

In this paper, with qualitative study method, factors in seven levels influencing the cooperative relationship between enterprises in the supply chain of marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry are qualitatively identified, including enterprise’s operational and technical capabilities, corporate reputation, enterprise’s willingness to cooperate, trust, communication and collaboration, opportunism and external environment. On the basis of qualitative study results, in order to enhance the validity, operability and feasibility of qualitative study results, DEMATEL (Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory) has constructed a direct impact matrix that can reflect the logical relationship among different factors by using graph theory and matrix tools. This matrix can improve the understanding for specific interrelated problem groups and complex cluster problems and achieve sorting and causal quantitative analysis for the degree of mutual influence among different factors. However, with DEMATEL method, it is difficult to solve the realistic problem in the relationship among the factors influencing the cooperative relationship between enterprises in the complex supply chain, and besides, the subjective judgment process of experts may affect the credibility of the final result. Therefore, in this Paper, GRNN-DEMATEL empirical analysis method is used to empirically analyze the factors influencing the cooperative relationship between enterprises in the supply chain of marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry.

GRNN was proposed by American scholar Donald F. Specht in 1991, which is a radial basis neural network suitable for solving nonlinear problems, with strong nonlinear mapping ability and high degree of robustness, flexibility and fault tolerance. Compared with RBF and BP neural networks, GRNN has a strong advantage in learning speed and approximation ability in processing unstable data, especially in the case of a small number of corresponding samples, it can achieve good prediction effect [13, 14]. The structure of GRNN is composed of four layers: input layer, pattern layer, summation layer, and output layer.

Where, network input is: (1)X=[x1,x2,...,xN]T[{\rm{X}} = \left[ {x_1 ,x_2 ,...,x_N } \right]^T network output is (2)Y=[y1,y2,...,yk]T[Y = \left[ {y_1 ,y_2 ,...,y_k } \right]^T

Input layer [13, 14]

After simple distribution, each neuron is transmitted to the pattern layer as an input variable, where: Dimension of input vector = number of neurons. The number of neurons is set to

Pattern layer

In the pattern layer, the neuron transfer function is set to: (3)Li=exp[−(X−Xi)T(X−Xi)2σ2]i=1,2,...,n[L_i = \exp \left[ { - \frac{{\left( {X - X_i } \right)^T \left( {X - X_i } \right)}}{{2\sigma ^2 }}} \right]i = 1,2,...,n

n - Number of learning samples, used to represent the number of neurons;

I output is the Euler distance function between the input variable and its corresponding sample X. (4)D2=‖X−Xi‖2[D^2 = \left\| {X - X_i } \right\|^2

The summation layer is to sum the outputs of two types of neurons in the pattern layer, and the transfer function is radial basis function. 1 ^st type: (5)∑i=1nexp[−(X−Xi)T(X−Xi)2σ2][\sum\limits_{i = 1}^n \exp \left[ { - \frac{{\left( {X - X_i } \right)^T \left( {X - X_i } \right)}}{{2\sigma ^2 }}} \right]

It arithmetically sums the outputs of all neurons in the pattern layer, where the connection weight between the pattern layer and each neuron is 1, and the transfer function is: (6)SD=∑i=1nLi[S_D = \sum\limits_{i = 1}^n {\rm{L}}_{\rm{i}}

2 ^nd type: (7)∑i=1nYiexp[−(X−Xi)T(X−Xi)2σ2][\sum\limits_{i = 1}^n Y_i \exp \left[ { - \frac{{\left( {X - X_i } \right)^T \left( {X - X_i } \right)}}{{2\sigma ^2 }}} \right]

It sums the outputs of all the neurons in the pattern layer, i.e. the summation of the i ^th neuron in the pattern layer and the i ^th molecule in the summation layer. The connection weight between neurons is the j ^th element in the i ^th output sample Yi. The transfer function is:

(4) Output layer [13, 14] (8)SNj=∑i=1nYijLij,j=1,2,...,k[S_{Nj} = \sum\limits_{i = 1}^n {\rm{Y}}_{ij} {\rm{L}}_{\rm{i}} j,j = 1,2,...,k

Y _j refers to dividing each neuron by the output of summation layer, and it is a linear function, i.e. (9)SNj=∑i=1nYijLij,j=1,2,...,k[S_{Nj} = \sum\limits_{i = 1}^n {\rm{Y}}_{ij} {\rm{L}}_{\rm{i}} j,j = 1,2,...,k Where, k represents the number of neurons in the output layer, k = dimension of output vector of learning sample.

In this Paper, the weight w is obtained by using the target output and input values in GRNN, based on which the influence degree of each index on the target output is measured, and hereby the influence degree of each influencing factor on the final result is obtained [13].

GRNN-DEMATEL algorithm inherits and retains the values of “D-R” and “D+R” obtained by traditional DEMATEL method, and uses “D-R” index to distinguish the result group and cause group in the factor group, and uses “D+R” value to judge the importance of each index. The specific steps are as follows:

Use the target index value of the tth study object as the target output vector of GRNN to obtain the weight vector: (10)ω=(ωtj)=S×P[\omega = \left( {\omega _{tj} } \right) = S \times P

Where, w _tj is the weight of the j ^th influencing factor of the t ^th study object on target index, t = 1,2, ···, m .

Selection of data for empirical analysis

In foregoing paragraphs, with qualitative study method, factors in seven levels influencing the cooperative relationship between enterprises in the supply chain of marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry are qualitatively identified, including enterprise’s operational and technical capabilities, enterprise’s social recognition, enterprise’s willingness to cooperate, trust, communication and collaboration, opportunism and external environment. On the basis of qualitative study results, in order to enhance the validity, operability and feasibility of qualitative study results, in this Paper, GRNN-DEMATEL empirical analysis method is used to empirically analyze the factors influencing the cooperative relationship between enterprises in the supply chain of marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry. Besides, in this Paper, Likert 1–7 subscale is used prepare questionnaires, empirical analysis data is collected through on-site distribution of questionnaires, and 120 senior and middle managers of marine engineering equipment manufacturing enterprises are invited to respectively grade the influence degrees of “enterprise operational and technical capabilities, corporate reputation, enterprise’s willingness to cooperate, trust, communication and collaboration, opportunism, and external environment on the cooperative relationship between enterprises in the supply chain of marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry. Finally, 120 study samples are collected and 120 study objects are formed. These 120 marine engineering equipment manufacturing enterprises all have over 15 years of history, and they are representative and typical large and medium-sized enterprises in eastern China. The middle and senior managers of these enterprises are familiar with the operation mode of supply chain and know well the knowledge related to the supply chain of marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry.

In this Paper, on the basis of collecting the sample data of study objects, matlab programming software is used to obtain GRNN-DEMATEL method based empirical analysis results on the factors influencing the cooperative relationship between enterprises in the supply chain of marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry, as detailed in Table 3 .

The empirical analysis results in Table 3 show that: (1) D+R values corresponding to the seven factors are all greater than zero; enterprise’s operational and technical capabilities, corporate reputation, enterprise’s willingness to cooperate, trust, communication and collaboration, opportunism and external environment are all the factors influencing the cooperative relationship between enterprises in the supply chain of marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry, where enterprise’s operational and technical capabilities are the most important and critical factors affecting the cooperative relationship between enterprises in the supply chain of marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry; According to the degree and importance of the influence on the cooperative relationship between enterprises in the supply chain of marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry, in descending order, these influencing factors are ranked as follows: enterprise’s operational and technical capabilities, corporate reputation, enterprise’s willingness to cooperate, trust, communication and collaboration, opportunism and external environment. (2) D-R values corresponding to enterprise’s operational and technical capabilities and external environment are greater than zero, while D-R values corresponding to the other influencing factors are smaller than zero; such results further reveal that in the seven factors influencing the cooperative relationship between enterprises in the supply chain of marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry, the cause-type influencing factors include enterprise’s operational and technical capabilities and external environment, and the other five factors, the influencing results from the two cause-type influencing factors (i.e. enterprise’s operational and technical capabilities and external environment), are result-type influencing factors. In order to better form and promote the cooperative relationship between enterprises in the supply chain of marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry, we should focus on taking these two cause-type influencing factors (i.e. enterprise’s operational and technical capabilities and external environment) as the entry point and the fundamental starting point.

Operational and technical capabilities of the enterprises in the supply chain are the necessary conditions for enterprises to choose partners. Corporate reputation and enterprise’s willingness to cooperate are the sufficient and necessary conditions for the final construction of the partnership. These three factors are the pre-influencing factors for the selection of partners for cooperation between enterprises in the supply chain of China’s marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry. Trust, and communication and collaboration between enterprises in the supply chain are the necessary conditions for inter-enterprise cooperation behavior to keep stable and develop in a good direction. Opportunism is an inevitable negative factor in inter-enterprise cooperation and a key factor for enterprises to choose to continue or terminate the cooperation. Therefore, trust, and communication and collaboration between enterprises, and opportunism are the built-in driving forces for alliance cooperation of enterprises in China’s marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry. The external factors affecting the cooperation between enterprises in the supply chain have typical uncertainties in their external environment, and because of such uncertainties, the changes in external environment become important links that must be considered and grasped at all times for the maintenance and development of inter-enterprise cooperation.

Study conclusion

Because of the important strategic position of the marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry to China’s marine economic development, and the technology confidentiality and complexity of the marine industry itself, it is difficult to analyze the factors influencing the cooperative relationship between enterprises in the supply chain of marine industry through quantitative indicators. Therefore, Grounded Theory qualitative study method is adopted. Meanwhile, the Grounded Theory based data coding qualitative study method shows that the main factors influencing the cooperative relationship between enterprises in the supply chain of China’s marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry are respectively enterprise’s operational and technical capabilities, trust between enterprises, communication and collaboration between enterprises, opportunism and external environment, corporate reputation, and enterprise’s willingness to cooperate. In the process of enterprise cooperation, these influencing factors are presented as follows: first, in the process of establishing the cooperative relationship between enterprises in the supply chain of marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry, the three factors including enterprise’s operational and technical capabilities, corporate reputation, and enterprise’s willingness to cooperate are the important preconditions (i.e. pre-influencing factors); second, trust, and communication and collaboration mechanism between enterprises in the supply chain are important guarantee factors for the sustainable and efficient development of inter-enterprise cooperation; meanwhile, opportunistic behavior is inevitable in the cooperation process, but opportunism is controllable in the cooperation process; third, external environment (such as the policies on the development of enterprises in the supply chain of marine industry, and market economy, etc.) is an uncontrollable factor influencing the enterprise cooperation; when discussing its impact, quantitative study is impossible, but it is an important entry point for the study.

In this Paper, we use GRNN-DEMATEL method to empirically analyze the factors influencing the cooperative relationship between enterprises in the supply chain of marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry while studying the factors influencing the cooperation between enterprises in the supply chain of marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry. The study shows that these major influencing factors are mainly divided into two major categories: cause-type influencing factors (enterprise’s operational and technical capabilities and external environment) and result-type influencing factors (corporate reputation, enterprise’s willingness to cooperate, trust between enterprises, communication and collaboration between enterprises, opportunism and external environment). Cause-type influencing factors are the important foundation for study on inter-enterprise cooperation and the cornerstone of inter-enterprise synthesis. Result-type influencing factors have a guiding effect on the coordinated development between enterprises. The operational and technical capabilities of the enterprises in the supply chain are the necessary conditions for enterprises to choose their partners. The corporate reputation and enterprise’s willingness to cooperate are the necessary and sufficient conditions for the enterprise partnership to be finally constructed. Trust, and communication and collaboration between enterprises in the supply chain are the necessary conditions for inter-enterprise cooperation behavior to keep stable and develop in a good direction. Opportunism is an inevitable negative factor in inter-enterprise cooperation and a key factor for enterprises to choose to continue or terminate the cooperation. The external factors affecting the cooperation between enterprises in the supply chain have typical uncertainties in their external environment, and because of such uncertainties, the changes in external environment become important links that must be considered and grasped at all times for the maintenance and development of inter-enterprise cooperation.

First, in this study, we take China’s marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry as the study object to perform in-depth study on China’s currently typical factors influencing the cooperative relationship between enterprises in the supply chain of china’s marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry, and identify the important factors influencing the cooperative relationship between enterprises in the supply chain of China’s marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry by systematic materials and empirical data and through Grounded Theory, long-term research data collection, tracking and study - enterprise’s operational and technical capabilities, corporate reputation, enterprise’s willingness to cooperate, trust between enterprises, communication and collaboration between enterprises, opportunism and external environment, etc.

Second, in this Paper, relevant data are coded and cases are studied by Grounded Theory study method, through which the unique and indispensable situational influencing factors are identified - external environment. Besides, GRNN-DEMATEL study method is used to further identify the influencing factors. The study results enrich the theoretical study on the cooperative relationship between enterprises in China’s marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry, and can provide important guidance for the selection of cooperation alliance mode between enterprises in marine industry.

Thirdly, from the practical point of view, in view of the fact that the development of China’s marine engineering equipment manufacturing industry is still in the middle and late stages, in this Paper, we identify and analyze the key factors affecting the cooperative relationship between enterprises based on typical enterprise practice situation. The study shows that only by scientifically and systematically identifying the influencing factors, can we accurately choose the cooperative mode and ensure the smooth development of cooperative relationship.