Fred Selnes

Antecedents and consequences of trust and satisfaction in buyer‐seller relationships

The perspective of marketing has changed from regarding marketing as a series of independent transactions to a dynamic process of establishing, maintaining and enhancing relationships. In an emerging theory of relationship marketing, both trust and satisfaction are core concepts in understanding the dynamics of how relationships evolve. Although the literature has thoroughly examined both trust and satisfaction, the interrelationship between them, including their consequences and antecedents, has not yet been addressed properly. We propose that the development of buyer‐seller relationships can be understood as a sequence of decisions buyers make regarding whether they should enter a relationship, continue a relationship, or enhance the scope of a relationship. These are different kinds of decisions where satisfaction and trust are likely to play different roles in risk reductions depending on the nature of the decision to be made. In a study of institutional buyers of a food producer we find that satisfaction and trust are complementary in the sense that trust is a key variable when decisions are related to enhancement in scope of the relationship, whereas satisfaction is a key variable when the issue is relationship continuity.

An Examination of the Effect of Product Performance on Brand Reputation, Satisfaction and Loyalty

Customer loyalty is a major strategic objective and focus in marketing. It has been suggested that brand reputation is a major driver of customer loyalty, and hence companies seek to increase the equity of their brands. Quality affects not only customer satisfaction, but also the reputation of the brand. Thus, both brand reputation and customer satisfaction are important determinants of customer loyalty. The interaction between these two drivers of customer loyalty has, however, been neglected in the literature. Presents a theoretical model which integrates quality, brand reputation, customer satisfaction and loyalty. The model is tested in four industries, covering both business‐to‐business markets and private customer markets. The findings suggest that companies should monitor and improve both customers satisfaction and brand reputation. In situations where the intrinsic cues of the product or service are ambiguous, brand reputation is the strongest driver of customer loyalty compared with customer sati...

Promoting Relationship Learning

The authors develop a theory of how management can develop and promote the learning capabilities of targeted customer–supplier relationships. The theory suggests that a supplier and a customer can improve their joint learning activities by facilitating information exchange, developing common learning arenas, and updating their behavior accordingly. The authors suggest that learning within a customer–supplier relationship cannot be mandated by either organization, but rather learning depends on both parties’ willingness to cooperate in joint learning activities. Management can promote relationship learning by cultivating a collaborative culture, formulating specific objectives for joint learning activities, and developing relational trust. However, as relational trust develops, the effectiveness of learning is reduced as a result of “hidden costs” of trust. The authors use data from 315 dyads to test the theory empirically, and they find that the learning capability of a relationship has a strong, positive effect on performance. Their results also provide insight into how to address the hidden costs of trust.

Customer Portfolio Management: Toward a Dynamic Theory of Exchange Relationships

Management of an entire portfolio of customers who are at different relationship stages requires a dynamic theory of exchange relationships that captures the trade-offs between scale economies and lifetime customer value. This article contributes to the understanding of relationship management by developing a typology of exchange relationship mechanisms and a model of relationship dynamics and by simulating the model to provide guidelines for customer portfolio management. An important insight from the research is that a key to the creation of value through closer relationships lies in bringing weaker relationships into a portfolio in the first place. Another insight is that firms that position themselves toward offerings with low economies of scale, such as personal services, must build closer relationships to create value.

Market orientation in United States and Scandinavian companies. A cross-cultural study

Although the market orientation concept has received increasing research attention, the vast majority of published work has been focused on organizations based in the United States. Although this approach has advantages, it limits our understanding of the concept in global markets. The purpose of this research is to examine how a country context affects: (1) levels of organizational antecedents that drive a market orientation including a focus on top management, interdepartmental relations, and organizational systems; (2) levels of market orientation; and (3) strength of linkages between market orientation and its antecedents and consequences. Using a multiple-informant survey design, data were collected from SBUs in the U.S. and Scandinavia (i.e. Denmark, Norway, and Sweden). The findings indicate that (1) organizational antecedents are affected by national context; (2) the effects of the antecedents of market orientation are similar in U.S. and Scandinavia; (3) market orientation affects overall performance in both the U.S. and Scandinavia; and (4) strong effects of market orientation on esprit de corps are evident in both cultures. While the results suggest that the proposed conceptual framework does generalize to a Scandinavian context, it is also clear that the culture and political-economy of a country influences the robustness of the generalization across political-economies and national cultures. Managerial implications and directions for future work in an international context are discussed.

The Potential Hazard of Self-Service in Developing Customer Loyalty

Recent developments in information technology imply that more service operations can now be transformed from expensive manual operations to low-cost automated self-service. Managers, however, are reluctant to replace personal service with self-service because of the potential negative consequence of self-service on social bonding and subsequent customer loyalty. In this article, the authors argue that the decision should be reframed as follows: “How can self-service be integrated with personal service?”

Buying expertise, information search, and problem solving

Abstract This study investigates the effect of product knowledge upon information acquisition and problem solving. We found that experts tended to search more information than novices. They also tended to search other types of information, in this case sensory compared to verbal data. Finally, experts as compared to novices devoted more effort to identification and definition of the problem, and less effort on evaluation.

Relational selling behavior and skills in long-term industrial buyer-seller relationships

Marketing is no longer regarded as a series of independent transactions, but as a dynamic process of establishing and maintaining relationships. In spite of the acknowledged importance of relationship marketing, relational selling behavior and skills appear to be understudied. The authors examine how selling behaviors and skills affect relationship continuity. In contrast to much of the literature, which appears to suggest that relational selling behavior and skills are universally effective, their study among industrial customers shows that the effects of some selling behaviors and skills are contingent on the degree of supplier dependence. Personal similarity, for example, is most effective in low dependence relationships, whereas the negative effects of aggressive selling are less in high dependence relationships. Furthermore, the results suggest that communication and conflict handling have a universally positive impact on relationship continuity.

Market orientation in Nordic banks: does nationality matter?

Neither market orientation nor the possible link to performance is easily achieved and in various countries companies may organize differently to cope with the information‐processing and customer‐responding challenges. Nationwide surveys in banks in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden indicate that a path to performance involves innovations such as “supported empowerment” though there are differences in the antecedents of market orientation. Thus the most distinct Scandinavian ways to improvements may be found in Sweden. Especially Swedish banks and to a lesser extent Finnish banks are upfront in their use of “the technology of customer‐focusing”. Nevertheless, the overall analyses based on rigorous structural equation modeling lead to the estimation of a model reflecting causal relationships which seem to be independent of nationality.

Analysing Marketing Profitability: Sales Are a Dangerous Cost‐driver

Discusses the issues raised by general criticism of the traditional accounting‐based analysis of profitability and in particular of data quality and relevance, from the perspective of strategic marketing decisions. The major validity problem of profitability analysis is related to the assumption about sales as a cost‐driver for marketing activities. Case studies from two companies illustrate the importance of conducting the analysis based on relevant data. Suggests why and how marketing costs should be allocated to both products and customers.