Building better bonds: An integrative literature review toward a theory-driven and actionable framework for B2B partnership success

Business-to-business (B2B) partnerships have become a prevalent strategic practice, frequently associated with benefits such as cost efficiency, enhanced sales performance, and facilitated market entry. Despite their widespread adoption, the academic literature on B2B partnership success remains fragmented, characterized by diverse theoretical perspectives and a lack of consensus regarding the relationships among success factors. To address this gap, we conduct an integrative literature review synthesizing insights across multiple management disciplines. Based on this analysis, we develop a novel, holistic, theory-informed, and managerially relevant framework for successful B2B partnerships. This framework advances prior research by systematically integrating and structuring a broad range of success factors frequently referred to in literature and classifying them into trust-building, trust-driven, and multi-impact factors. In doing so, the review provides a more coherent theoretical understanding of B2B partnership success and practical guidance for managing interfirm collaboration.