Lars-Gunnar Mattsson

Interorganizational Relations in Industrial Systems: A Network Approach Compared with the Transaction-Cost Approach

A network approach, as it is developed by some Swedish researchers in industrial marketing and international business (see e.g. Hagg & Johanson (ed.), 1982 and Hammarkvist, Hakansson & Mattsson, 1982) is compared with the transaction cost approach associated with Oliver Williamson (e.g. Williamson, 1975, 1979, 1981). The reason we make such a comparison is that we often get questions from colleagues in the scientific community, suggesting that what we try to do is rather similar to what the transaction cost approach is doing.

Internationalisation in Industrial Systems — A Network Approach

The theme of the book suggests that international interdependence between firms and within industries is of great and increasing importance. Analyses of international trade, international investments, industrial organisation and international business behaviour attempt to describe, explain and give advice about these interdependencies. The theoretical bases and the level of aggregation of such analyses are naturally quite varied.

Marketing investments and market investments in industrial networks

Abstract A large and increasing share of company resources is devoted to marketing activities. To a large extent those activities are of a long term nature. There are long term, intertemporal dependence relations between marketing activities and their consequences. It is important both for marketing practice and marketing theory to develop tools for analyses of such relations in marketing. In business, intertemporal relations are frequently analysed within an investment process framework and it seems fruitful to apply such a framework to the analysis of marketing activities. The main purpose of this article is to make such an analysis.

Stability and change in network relationships

Abstract Most studies analyzing stability in relations between supplier and customer firms take the durability of individual dyads as the point of departure. Our empirical results, however, show that if the individual dyad is put in its network context, it is possible to identify quite dramatic changes in seemingly stable relations. We therefore argue that more attention should be devoted to analysis of stability and change from a network point of view.

“Relationship marketing” and the “markets‐as‐networks approach”—a comparative analysis of two evolving streams of research

Predating the increased attention by marketing academics on relationship marketing, European marketing scholars developed a network approach to the study of industrial markets that is also based on relationships between seller and buyer as a fundamental concept. This article aims to analyse the similarities and the differences between relationship marketing studies and network studies. After comparative analyses of definitions, empirical and research foundations, attributes related to governance structures and to the marketing mix approach and of major issues addressed in the research agendas, the conclusion is: relationship marketing in its limited interpretation is just a development within the marketing mix approach. Relationship marketing in its extended interpretation is, or rather could become, close to the markets‐as‐networks approach. However the basic attribute in network studies of “embeddedness” is largely missing in relationship marketing. To develop relationship marketing as a generic concept...

Systems selling as a strategy on industrial markets

Systems selling is a concept that many firms have adopted in recent years to guide their product and marketing strategy. In this paper by Lars-Gunnar Mattsson, economic consequences of systems selling for the industrial goods seller are analyzed. Four different types of revenue consequences are identified. It is argued that the seller should let its market analysis be influenced by which of these four consequences are consistent with its objectives in choosing a systems selling approach. It is shown that systems selling increases product differentiation and barriers to entry into a market, thus increasing the system selling firm’s profit opportunities. Cost consequences are analyzed in terms of size of investments needed and heterogeneity of customers’ needs, and the paper concludes with a discussion of the factors influencing the relative advantage for systems selling in the international market.

The Markets-as-Networks Tradition in Sweden

Philip Kotler, in a speech to the trustees of the Marketing Science Institute, said that the paradigmatic orientation of marketing moves from transactions to relationships to networks [Kotler 1991]. From this perspective, it is worth considering a network approach to marketing developed by Swedish marketing researchers during the last decade. This approach was first presented in two books published in Swedish in 1982 [Hagg and Johanson 1982;Hammarkvist, Hakansson, and Mattsson 1982]. Both groups of authors included members from Uppsala University and the Stockholm School of Economics. A decade later, Swedish researchers are basing a substantial and growing number of studies in marketing and related subjects on the network approach. One can even talk about the evolution of a research tradition, directly and indirectly linked to international research developments, but still based largely in Sweden. This tradition in marketing predates much of the recent surge in network thinking among management and social science researchers.

Reorganization of distribution in globalization of markets: the dynamic context of supply chain management

Globalization of markets is a phenomenon that has received much attention and been extensively debated both at general societal/institutional/cultural levels and at market and business levels. In any globalization process, distribution of goods and services between and within local industrial and consumer markets is of great importance. Globalization of markets and reorganization of distribution are mutually dependent processes that involve changes in market structures. Contemporary examples of this are the emergence of global supply chains, internationalization of wholesale, retail and transportation firms and the development of sales via the Internet. The nature of the interdependence between globalization of markets and the reorganization of distribution is discussed, applying a network view of markets with reference to the cultural dimensions. Supply chain management issues are intimately related to these general development trends. The article concludes with some observations on the need, in practice and in research, to consider supply chain management in its dynamic context.

Discovering market networks

Purpose – In 1982 two books published in Sweden suggested a network perspective on markets and marketing. The purpose of this paper is to explain the emergence in Sweden of the network perspective.Design/methodology/approach – Provides an examination of research in industrial marketing and related fields during the 1970s and the roles of the societal and academic contexts for the research.Findings – Close relations between academic research and business was particularly crucial since it provided access to industry on all organisational levels and business relevance of the research. Three areas of research seem to have been especially important in the development: supplier‐customer interaction, strategy and organisation of the firm and the interconnectedness between markets. The emergence of the network perspective is seen as a result of a conceptual compromise between a group engaged in dyadic business relationship research and another group that had a wider systems interdependence view on markets. The pa...

Integration and efficiency in marketing systems

This study was inspired by some recent changes in organization and structure of the distributive trades in Sweden. Attention is focused on various aspects of integration in marketing systems consisting of retail and wholesale units. Three main types of integration concept are defined, their interrelations discussed and their relations to efficiency in the systems analysed. The three are: institutional integration, decision integration and execution integration. The last of these contains four variables: activity transference, internalization, exclusiveness and homogeneity.In a comparative study of four marketing systems in the food trade, representing different degrees of institutional integration, the decision integration and execution integration of various marketing activities are measured.