Andrew S. Humphries

Managing Key Business-to-Business Relationships: What Marketing Can Learn From Supply Chain Management

Key account management (KAM) is a rapidly growing area of interest in business-to-business marketing. However, unnoticed by marketing, a quiet revolution has taken place in supply chain management (SCM), where the traditional emphasis on least-cost transactions has given way to a focus on long-term relationships with a few key suppliers. It is thus apparent that the two disciplines are converging. This article uses a cross-disciplinary approach to explore whether these developments from the field of SCM provide insights into key business-to-business relationships. A detailed case study of a long-term relationship between a business-to-business services provider and a key customer in the construction industry suggests there is a definable overlap. The supply chain model illuminates five important elements of KAM and offers a promising method for the evaluation of such relationships. As a result of the research, both supplier and customer companies implemented actions to improve and strengthen this important relationship.

Understanding collaborative supply chain relationships through the application of the Williamson organisational failure framework

Purpose – Within the supply chain the need for much closer, long‐term relationships is increasing due to supplier rationalisation and globalisation and more information about these interactions is required. The research specifically tested the well‐accepted Williamsons economic organisations failure framework as a theoretical model through which long‐term collaborative relationships can be viewed.Design/methodology/approach – An exploratory research project was designed and carried out on a self‐selected census of 54 monopolistic relationships representing £575.8 m annual spend on equipment and associated services within the UK defence procurement organisation (a 10 per cent sample). Its aims were to understand the relationship dynamics within long‐term, sustained monopolies and to determine if generic success factors could be found to assist managers to break out of the essentially negative situation. A triangulated data capture approach was employed using both quantitative and qualitative methods from ...

Long Term Collaborative Business Relationships: The Impact of Trust and C3Behaviour

Long-term, collaborative business relationships are like marriages where tolerance, forbearance and some reduction of freedom as well as innovation are necessary to ensure success. Trust and co-operative behaviours are known to be essential ingredients in securing an environment of continuous improvement but, how they are correlated has yet to be tested. The paper describes a research project within a sample of long-term monopoly businesses as a novel approach to bringing trust and cooperation, co-ordination and collaboration (C3 Behaviour) into sharper focus without competitive distractions. It was found that a correlation between trust and C3 Behaviour and the success of the collaborative relationship exists.

A taxonomy of highly interdependent, supply chain relationships: The use of cluster analysis

Purpose – Cluster analysis provides a statistical method whereby unknown groupings of similar attributes can be identified from a mass of data and is well‐known within marketing and a wide range of other disciplines. This paper seeks to describe the use of cluster analysis in an unusual setting to classify a large sample of dyadic, highly interdependent, supply chain relationships based upon the quality of their interactions. This paper aims to show how careful attention to the detail of research design and the use of combined methods leads to results that both are useful to managers and make a contribution to knowledge.Design/methodology/approach – Data relating to 55 monopolistic relationships in the UK defence procurement sector were collected. Hierarchical cluster analysis using Wards method was undertaken on scores from five dimensions measuring relationship satisfaction. The resulting clusters are described in terms of the scores on the dimensions and also in terms of their relationships with data, ...

A comparison of inter‐ and intra‐organizational relationships: Two case studies from UK food and drink industry

Purpose – Theoretical models of collaboration assume that intra‐organizational relationships are more collaborative that inter‐organizational ones. This paper seeks to question the validity of this assumption by comparing the levels of collaboration in two cases that comprise both types of relationship.Design/methodology/approach – Two case studies in the UK food industry were conducted, in each two relationships were analyzed: one inter‐ and one intra‐organizational. Data were collected through a questionnaire followed by semi‐structured interviews.Findings – This exploratory research indicates that in both case studies intra‐organizational relationships have lower levels of collaboration than inter‐organizational ones. This appears to contradict the commonly held assumption that intra‐organizational relationships involve closer collaborations than inter‐organizational ones.Research limitations/implications – Case study approaches have reliability and generalisability limitations, however, the paper was ...

Sustained monopolistic business relationships: A UK defence procurement case

Business‐to‐business relationships within sustained monopolies, such as those within UK defence procurement, have received scant attention by management researchers. This is unusual because under these market circumstances there appear to be few incentives to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes despite their strategic policy importance. This paper argues that an understanding of the monopolistic environment using a transaction cost economics theoretical framework and relationship marketing concepts provides an approach to solving this problem as well as testing aspects of these disciplines empirically in a novel area. This plan is supported by the results from a pilot study and the paper concludes by proposing a substantial research project to test this hypothesis in the UK defence procurement situation.

Partnerships in UK Defense Procurement

Since the 1998 Strategic Defense Review, the UK Government reversed its competition policy and now seeks to improve defense procurement relationships with industry through partnering. However, at a time when the defense industries are concentrating and globalizing and more and more of the large contracts are being managed under monopoly conditions, substantive relationship improvements are hard to find. The authors propose that a Transaction Cost Economics Market Failure model provides insights into solving the defense procurement problem by focusing the combination of supply chain factors, which result in successful partnerships within a sustained monopoly. The results of a pilot project justify the approach and suggest that the main program will both extend knowledge in an area that has received little attention by management researchers and also offer practical guidance to managers.

UK Defence Supply Chain Relationships: a Study of Sustained Monopoly.

Business‐to‐business, supply chain relationships within sustained monopolies, such as those within UK defence procurement, have received scant attention by management researchers. This paper describes the results from a substantial, exploratory research project that used Williamson’s organisations failure framework as a theoretical model. Surprisingly, it revealed that many issues surrounding supply chain management implementation were similar to those found in “normal” markets and that it played an important part in reducing the inherently negative effects of monopolistic relationships. The research sheds new and useful light on the dynamics of this unusual busin