F. Robert Dwyer

Developing Buyer-Seller Relationships

Marketing theory and practice have focused persistently on exchange between buyers and sellers. Unfortunately, most of the research and too many of the marketing strategies treat buyer-seller excha...

An Examination of Organizational Factors Influencing New Product Success in Internal and Alliance-Based Processes

New products provide increased sales, profits, and competitive strength for most organizations. However, nearly 50% of the new products that are introduced each year fail. Organizations thus find themselves in a double bind. On the one hand they must innovate consistently to remain competitive, but on the other hand innovation is risky and expensive. Many organizations are forming business alliances to quicken the pace of and reduce risks associated with innovation. Yet by some estimates, 70% of these alliances fail. Many of the prescriptions for successful alliance management clash with recommendations for effective innovation management. The authors develop testable hypotheses by integrating the new products and alliance literature. A construct—cooperative competency—derived from related concepts of mutual adjustment, absorptive capacity, and relational capability is posited as the key factor affecting new product development success, regardless of whether it is an intra- or interfirm endeavor. The authors test the model with data from a sample survey in the semiconductor manufacturing context and replicate it in the health care sector. The antecedents of cooperative competency—formalized and clannish administration, mutual dependence, and institutional support—are revealed empirically and substantiated. The authors identify the importance and means of developing interfirm cooperation.

Power, bureaucracy, influence, and performance: Their relationships in industrial distribution channels

Abstract Set in an industrial product distribution channel, the authors investigate the relationship between: (1) a suppliers power and its use of influence tactics with a distributor, (2) the level of bureaucracy (operationalized as centralization and formalization) with use of influence, (3) influence use and relationship performance, and (4) bureaucracy and performance. A series of structural equation models revealed that high-power suppliers tend to use “nonmediated” approaches (information exchange and recommendations) and rely less on “mediated” tactics such as threats and “legalistic pleas.” Centralized supplier decision-making promoted the use of mediated tactics, whereas formalized relationships fostered the use of information exchange and recommendations (as well as legalistic pleas). Finally, information exchange had a positive effect on the performance of the exchange relationship, whereas requests, legalistic pleas, and threats had deleterious effects on this outcome variable. No direct bureaucratic effects on relationship performance were found when taking influence tactics into account.

Are Two Better than One? Bargaining Behavior and Outcomes in an Asymmetrical Power Relationship

Many consumer transactions are characterized by bargaining between parties holding unequal power positions. The group polarization hypothesis suggests that the effects of group size will differ for high- and low-power bargainers. Accordingly, power position and size of bargaining unit (one, two) were manipulated in a threat-vulnerable 2 × 2 game. Factor effects on economic performance, communication style, and post-bargaining attitudes were examined at the unit and system levels. Supporting the group polarization hypothesis, two-person groups tend to magnify the power manipulation—i.e., group size interacts with power position on post-bargaining attitudes and system performance.

Relational Roles and Triangle Dramas: Effects on Power Play and Sentiments in Industrial Channels

This study compares behavioral characteristics — power, influence, and satisfaction — in channels with different levels of commitment to long-term, collaborative exchange within the supply network to dealers in the office furniture industry. Supporting exchange theory and Emersonian power theory, power, influence, and satisfaction are positively associated with cooperation between traders. Furthermore, the data support expectations for how interaction processes in one dealer-supplier exchange are affected by the character of the dealers linkages to another supplier in the network.

Navigating Local Environments with Global Strategies: A Contingency Model of Multinational Subsidiary Performance

Multinational corporations (MNCs) often pursue global strategies that emphasize efficiency, flexibility, and learning, but globally developed strategies often clash with the environmental idiosyncrasies of MNC country subsidiary markets in which the strategy is actually implemented. Extant research pays little attention to the contingent efficacy of such global strategies from the perspective of MNC country subsidiary markets. We adopt the strategy-environment alignment principle and study how host country task- and institutional environments might influence the efficacy of global strategies for MNC subsidiary performance. We assess MNC subsidiary performance using subjective managerial judgments, and on the basis of recent research on human judgments, we theorize that these judgments embody information about judgment magnitude and uncertainty. A mean-variance function model simultaneously teases out the effects of the explanatory variables on the magnitude and uncertainty of MNC subsidiary performance judgments. To test the hypotheses, we analyze survey data from German and Japanese subsidiaries in the United States. The results support the use of the mean-variance function model and specific theory about the antecedents of performance judgment magnitude and uncertainty. Findings pertaining to interactions between global strategies and the facets of the local country environment reveal ways in which MNCs can adapt “global” strategies to navigate the complex array of country markets they face.

Value in professional service relationships

Purpose – Business to business (B2B) professional services depend on inter-firm cooperation for the co-creation of value. Such cooperation rarely happens overnight; it requires time for the relationship to develop. The purpose of this research is to investigate how different performance attributes of a professional service differ with the tenure of the relationship. Design/methodology/approach – This exploratory study utilizes seven years of longitudinal customer data provided by a B2B professional service firm. The firms customers assess satisfaction, value, loyalty, performance quality and their image of the firm after each project. Findings – Data were classified into three tenure related groups – i.e. transactional, emergent and mature relationships. MANOVA and post hoc contrasts of the average attribute scores of the three groups were conducted. The data support the conclusion that high performance in professional services is evident in mature relationships. Research limitations/implications – Data ...

Interorganizational Information Systems and Business-to-Business Relationships: System Characteristics, Assistance, Performance, Satisfaction, and Commitment Model

We introduce the SAPSaC model to see how relationship characteristics influence the implementation and outcomes of a specific type of inter-organization information system—electronic data interchange (EDI). Using a relational exchange perspective, we examine the effects of interfirm system characteristics, target firm capabilities, and initiator assistance, on project outcomes. We explore effects of three system characteristics—relationalism, dependence, and tenure on initiator assistance. System characteristics and assistance are hypothesized to affect outcomes—project performance, satisfaction, and commitment to the relationship. We consider the targets task readiness an additional determinant of initiator assistance and performance. Using sample survey data from firms in the housewares industry, we find that initiator assistance stems from relationalism, not tenure. From the targets perspective, project performance derives from relationalism and tenure. Satisfaction is driven by relationalism, tenure, assistance, and performance. Commitment comes from relationalism, dependence, and satisfaction. A multi-industry study successfully replicates most of the results.

Response Errors in Survey Research

The use of sample surveys to reduce uncertainty in marketing decision making is increasing. Managing response error and self-report bias requires a systems view of total design error.

An Experimental Study of the Effectiveness of Learning Objectives and Exercises in Marketing

A crucial problem for educators in a professional discipline like marketing is the gap which exists between a students ability to reiterate material and a students ability to apply or use the same material in a practical situation. This study uses stated objectives and experiential learning exercises as advocated by educational psychologists, to address this problem. Two separate experimental, classroom studies of the undergraduate introductory marketing course are reported. The results raise questions about the benefit-cost effectiveness of distributed learning objectives supplemented by experiential reinforcement exercises.