Boundary-spanning activities in electronics firms

A study of boundary-spanning activities (interaction with the outside-company environment) in 24 US West Coast electronics firms is reported. Boundary-spanning activity was found to be related to perceptions of the external environment´s importance and controllability and to the boundary spanner´s functional position. No significant relationship was found between environmental unpredictability and overall boundary-spanning activity, although a moderate relationship was found with monitoring activity. The complexity of these relationships was illustrated by several variations within the general pattern of results, and by graphical profiles of boundary-spanning activities for a number of specific functions and positions.