Brian Low

Long-term relationship in industrial marketing: Reality or rhetoric?

Abstract Although the interaction approach to industrial marketing, with a preoccupation on building long-term relationship, holds much promise for theoreticians and practitioners alike, we need to confront the inevitability of misjudged partners, particularly those with hidden agendas, and ill-conceived business relationships. Business goals and objectives change over time, and accordingly, the transaction cost equation. This state of affairs may or may not be anticipated and further compounded by a subsequent relationship atmosphere void of any communication and commitment between the parties. What is certain, however, is with the prospect of costly litigation, corporate reluctance to see the demise of the relationship, together with the economic and social cost associated with a failed relationship, parties must be wary at the outset of committing considerable resources to building a relationship. The idealistic, utopian view of building a long-term relationship must be tempered with the harsh reality that one should under certain circumstances actively and consciously play the market, seek out opportunities, and develop an opportunistic mentality. Deciding when to get out of an existing relationship and into a new one would minimize the substantial economic, political, and emotional cost associated with building a relationship that was never destined to last. Under such circumstances, failure or success in industrial market planning is more assured by appreciation and understanding of the circumstances that favor short-term opportunistic relationships as opposed to long-term relationships. These include developing a planning framework, and indeed, a business mentality that encourages parties to consciously seek new opportunities with potential new partners.

Huawei Technologies Corporation: from local dominance to global challenge?

Purpose – The paper aims to identify the challenges faced by Huawei Technologies, Chinas biggest telecommunications equipment manufacturer, as it makes the transition from an indigenously‐owned business to a potentially competitive global giant.Design/methodology/approach – This is an inductive, interpretative case study complimented by hands‐on experience with the industry.Findings – The paper finds that Huawei lies at a crossroads in a transitional telecommunication sector that is no longer isolated from global reforms and advancement. Through internationalisation the company has learned to compete by adjusting their mechanisms, learning instruments and focus.Originality/value – The paper is useful for practitioners in that it shows how indigenous companies in latecomer industrialising countries like China can overcome the late mover position in some of the advanced markets they have entered. For academics it highlights the role of government in helping to construct competitive indigenous firms that co...

Securing network legitimacy in China's telecommunication market

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to establish the importance and approaches in securing an organizations legitimacy from the network community of customers, suppliers and manufacturers, including private investors and state‐owned institutions when marketing their products.Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents an inductive interpretative approach complimented by action‐based research founded on inquiry and testing.Findings – The paper finds that the key to legitimacy success involves using legitimacy orientations to demonstrate commitment to the interests of constituents, acquiring legitimacy from them, but concurrently considering the central governments influence on a firms legitimacy performance.Research limitations/implications – The multiple interactions proposed in this paper remain untested and might have to be modified pending further empirical testing and analysis.Practical implications – In Chinas telecommunication market, a companys legitimacy emanates first and foremost fr...

The evolution of China's telecommunications equipment market: a contextual, analytical framework

Purpose – Aims to provide the contextual framework for local and foreign manufacturers in assessing the market potential of Chinas telecommunications equipment market, including an analysis of contemporary economic, political and historical issues.Design/methodology/approach – This is an inductive, interpretative case study.Findings – History matters in the evolution of Chinas telecommunications market especially given its concern over maintaining control of a strategic interest, as well as the protection of vested interests within the state‐controlled economy.Originality/value – To practitioners: the importance of research, vis‐a`‐vis interpretation and argument, in assessing market potential in a high‐technology market. To academics: the role of government in the value chain and network especially when they have controlling stakes, as is the case here with Chinas telecommunications equipment manufacturers and operators.

Managing Ambiguous Policies in China's Telecommunications Market: Network Navigation Insights and Techniques

ABSTRACT The Chinese telecommunications market is undergoing fundamental changes as it moves from state ownership to privatization. These changes have resulted in numerous ambiguous policies being announced, often by the same regulatory body. A key question is how management deals with these ambiguous policies. The answer depends on how the firm conceptualizes its network. In turn, this affects the firms network positioning actions. These actions link the firm up with significant network counterparts, acting as information and knowledge guardian and processor. This article presents a framework for examining the connections between these ambiguities, network conceptualization, and network positioning actions. The article concludes with a discussion of the theoretical and managerial implications, and of future research needs.

The evolution of network positions in emerging and converging technologies

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how and why staying on the edge of emerging and converging technologies is significant for businesses to create the most vibrant, adaptive and complex behaviors, including a wider range of business relational initiatives (e.g. outsourcing, opportunistic partnership, merger and alliance, acquisition), and a better sense of which initiative to choose.Design/methodology/approach – This is an inductive, interpretative case study complemented by hands‐on experience with the industry.Findings – Appreciating why existing proprietary technologies need to be replaced with new robust and open technologies is important. Knowing when and how existing and emerging technologies would converge is even better. Developing an understanding of the likely impact of this convergence on existing network structure and network position is critical.Originality/value – For practitioners the paper presents a framework for examining business relational initiatives at any given po...

Taking a position in an industrial service network: the case of distance learning in Malaysia

Existing business marketing theory often overstates the importance of competitive positioning when undertaking market entry strategy, although most theory acknowledge the need to develop strategies based on an analysis of the market structure. Indeed, as business marketers offering distance learning, universities are quick to embrace competitive positioning based on an analysis of the market structure. The same level of enthusiasm, however, has not been shown on network positioning based on an analysis of the network structure. Understanding and applying network positioning could confer a different but equally important perspective impacting on the market entry strategies of a university. This article attempts to fill these gaps and demonstrate its application in the context of Australian universities planning to enter the Malaysian distance learning education market, with local colleges acting as intermediaries.