Keith Blois

Trust in Business to Business Relationships: An Evaluation of its Status

The concept of trust has been used in a growing number of empirical and theoretical marketing studies of business to business relationships. Examination of a number of influential studies indicates a lack of clarity in their conceptualization of trust. The nature of this lack of clarity is examined and it is proposed that there are a number of features of trust which account should be taken of when conducting such studies.

Relationship marketing in organizational markets: When is it appropriate?

Building and maintaining relationships is a costly process. It is therefore important for a supplier to determine whether or not the costs involved are justified. Examination of the way in which a customer views a potential relationship may give the supplier a valuable insight into the appropriate form of relationship, if any, which should be sought.

Don’t all firms have relationships?

The need for suppliers to carefully determine the form of customer relationship which is appropriate for their business is discussed. The experiences of two firms are considered, one of which is successful because it does not develop close relationships with its customers or its suppliers. The other each year applies a sophisticated classification scheme to determine what type of relationship will be most profitable. It makes this assessment on the basis of its understanding of each customer’s needs and of the resources it has available to manage whatever types of relationship it considers appropriate.

The evolution of generic brands in industrial markets: the challenges to owners of brand equity

Abstract The paper suggests that generic brands can develop in industrial markets as easily as they can in consumer goods markets. It briefly examines the issue of branding in industrial markets and then describes the problems that firms can face if their brand name becomes used in a generic manner. It suggests actions that such firms can take as responses to this situation.

Norm development in outsourcing relationships

This paper considers the role of norms within networks by describing how BP Exploration outsourced its information technology function – a major business activity. This outsourcing venture led to the formation of a consortium. However, this attempt was found to have failed. It is suggested here that central to the failure of the consortium as an outsourcing arrangement was the issue of ‘norms’.

Relational Exchange Norms in Marketing: A Critical Review of Macneil’s Contribution

Different theories make different assumptions about the mechanisms that govern economic transactions and there are several reviews that have summarized existing conceptual and empirical work associated with such frameworks as transaction cost analysis or agency theory. However, Macneil’s Relational Contracting Theory, another major theoretical foundation of current marketing research into business relationships, has not yet received similar attention. This article provides a review of a core concept developed in this stream of literature: the norm concept. It contrasts Macneil’s view of norms with the work developed in the field of marketing. As a result, the authors identify, first, a gap between Macneil’s interpretation of the norm concept and the application made by marketing scholars and second, contradictions in the results obtained from empirical marketing research.

Are business‐to‐business relationships inherently unstable?

The intangible nature of relationships makes for certain difficulties in analysing both “relationships;” themselves and the circumstances in which they might exist. Using an adaptation of Bosiots I Space, it is suggested that relationships may often effectively be the product offered in business‐to‐business relationships. However, the combination of market forces and the behaviour of managers is identified as the source of the instability of relationships.

Analyzing exchanges through the use of value equations

Firms enter into exchanges so that they can create value for themselves as well as their customers. Days concept of customer value equations is reviewed and the concept of supplier value equations is introduced. Then the manner in which these two types of value equation can be used to identify opportunities for enhancing supplier and customer value is demonstrated.

Measuring relational norms: some methodological issues

Purpose – The paper sets out to examine the validity of Kaufmann and Sterns operationalisation of Macneils norm theory which they used when creating a set of scales to evaluate the degree of relationality in business‐to‐business (B2B) exchanges. The scales that Kaufmann and Stern developed to measure norms in B2B relationships have been used either directly or with limited adaptation in a large number of papers.Design/methodology/approach – Macneils work was evaluated and a new set of scales developed and an experiment was carried out to determine whether or not these scales discriminated between relational and discrete exchanges more effectively than Kaufmann and Sterns scales.Findings – The experiment demonstrated that the new scales discriminated more effectively between relational and discrete exchanges than Kaufmann and Sterns scales.Research limitations/implications – The experiment would ideally have been run using experienced managers rather than students as respondents. However, the advantag...

Interpretations of Fairness in Dissolution of Complex Relationships

Firms enter into relationships because they believe that by so doing they can create more value for themselves than by maintaining a series of discrete exchanges. This article, which is based on a case analysis of collaboration between five firms, focuses on the issue of the fair distribution of the benefits. The empirical context of collaboration, which eventually dissolved, provides a view of the complexity of the principle of fairness and on interpretations linked to this principle. The research suggests that it is important for collaborators to be able to develop and maintain similar ways of interpreting both how the benefits which the individual firms derive from the relationship should be evaluated and what a fair distribution of these benefits would be. Should they fail to do this then disputes which may result in the dissolution of the relationship are likely to arise.