Scholarly literature supports the notion that businesses benefit from long term collaborative relationships with trading partners, yet arm?s length, a Show moreScholarly literature supports the notion that businesses benefit from long term collaborative relationships with trading partners, yet arm?s length, adversarial relationships between buyers and sellers persist. Although scholarly research provides insights regarding conceptual and operational aspects of buyer-seller collaborations, very little has been published concerning the preparation or activities that lead into collaborative relationships. To address this gap this study conducted research involving semi structured interviews with buyers and sellers to understand how collaboration evolves in buyer seller relationships. Of specific interest is how buyer seller relationships, characterized by fear of opportunism and guarded behavior, transition to collaboration characterized by openness and partnering behaviors. Findings suggest relationship specific adaptations such as zero based pricing and action research projects act as catalysts to break restrictive buyer paradigms and influence the re construction of buyer paradigms better aligned to collaborative interactions. This paradigm shift is associated with two significant outcomes: (1) an opportunity for sellers to assume a new identity in the eyes of the buyer and (2)increased organizational performance for buyers and sellers alike. Show less