Stefanos Mouzas

Trust and reliance in business relationships

Purpose – The aim of the paper is to define the role of trust and reliance in business relationships.Design/methodology/approach – After this paper identifies gaps in the literature, a conceptual model is developed, and its implications analyzed and discussed.Findings – One of the particularities of trust is its inherent anthropocentricity. As a concept, trust appears to be more applicable at the level of inter‐personal relationships than to inter‐organizational relationships. Business relationships involve both inter‐personal and inter‐organizational relationships. The paper considers a number of other possibilities and argues that there is a need to look at reliance as an incremental intellectual lens on business relationships.Research limitations/implications – Within a business‐to‐business marketing context, the paper discusses the impact of such a multi‐faceted conceptualization for research in business relationships.Practical implications – Marketing researchers often neglect the fact that relations...

Unpicking the meaning of value in key account management

Purpose – This article aims to build on existing literature on value and proposes new perspectives and facets of relational value in key account management (KAM).Design/methodology/approach – Building on traditional value perspectives, value in KAM is conceptually deconstructed and linked with strategic value approaches.Findings – The article finds that a multifaceted key account value perspective includes three different types of value: exchange value, proprietary value, and relational value. Depending on the type of value constellation within a KAM relationship, a number of distinct key account value strategies are presented and discussed.Originality/value – The article provides an innovative concept of value in strategically important business‐to‐business relationships. Based on this, several strategic implications regarding the management of value are derived which enable further empirical research and a more nuanced managerial approach towards KAM.

Implementing Programmatic Initiatives in Manufacturer-Retailer Networks

Abstract This paper discusses the dynamics of the implementation of programmatic initiatives in manufacturer–retailer networks. We define a programmatic initiative as a complex and hybrid innovation problematizing a particular domain of activity and supplying a set of ready-made solutions to tackle those problems. We focus on one programmatic initiative, “Efficient Consumer Response” (ECR) conceived as a radical program of change designed to achieve cost savings and speed up business processes throughout manufacturer–retailer networks. The paper presents a longitudinal case study of the introduction of ECR initiatives in a manufacturer–retailer network in Germany and focuses on the enabling and constraining factors in the implementation of ECR.

Is there any hope? The idea of strategy in business networks

Abstract This paper explores some of the implications for the idea of business strategy of the networks of interlocking interdependencies which comprise the business landscape. The paper proposes a framework for analysing the strategic situations facing companies in business networks and for developing business strategy within them. The central message of the paper is that in the complex networks in which companies operate, business strategy cannot realistically be regarded as an individual-company activity. The paper argues that in these circumstances, strategy is more usefully conceived of as a matrix of interdependencies that connects the structure and process of a network and that confronts the existing with the evolving. This structure and process provide an array of evolving possibilities for the choices of any one actor and others, whether they are suppliers, customers, competitors or development partners. The paper argues that the strategy of a single company can usefully be interpreted as part of the process of interaction through which the company and others confront aspects of the status quo with new evolving possibilities, whilst conforming to other existing patterns within the network.

FROM CONTRACT TO UMBRELLA AGREEMENT

It is now widely accepted that English contract law does not deal equally well across the whole range of agreements that are made. The model which fits best to English contract law is one in which the parties move immediately from no contract to completed contract. There is great difficulty with situations where the parties spend a long time in an area where there are obligations and understandings but not yet a fully completed contract. This article considers an important development that attempts to deal with this difficulty. That is the increasing use by contracting parties of what may be called umbrella agreements.

Market-Based Responses to Climate Change: CO2 Market Design versus Operation

This study highlights significant discrepancies between CO2 market design and the actual operation of CO2 markets. Our findings are based upon an empirical investigation undertaken in the context of the European Emissions Trading Scheme between January 2009 and May 2010. CO2 markets are examined from a practice-based perspective in which actors are engaged in exchange, representational and normalizing practices. Discrepancies between the actual and intended CO2 market practices are explained using the concepts of framing, overflowing and regulatory capture. We argue that the design of the European Emissions Trading Scheme has been influenced in such a way that it does not actually challenge market participants to reduce their CO2 emissions. In this way, the study challenges the near universal reliance upon CO2 markets as the primary policy mechanism for mitigating climate change.

Flexible business models

Purpose – The aim in this paper is to describe and explain the flexibility offered by different business models adopted by different firms as they strive to achieve higher levels of business performance.Design/methodology/approach – Cross‐sectional research is used to investigate a matched pair sample of 20 high‐performing and 20 low‐performing firms in the UK. The relationship between business model architectures and focus are examined and their implications for flexibility are illustrated and discussed.Findings – The flexibility offered by different business models is explored through the way organisations select and integrate three inter‐related elements to devise flexible business models, i.e. network influence, transactional relationships, and corporate ownership. Affected by situated practices in each business network and the market position or business size, companies select and integrate various configurations of these elements to respond to the constantly evolving demands of end‐customers.Researc...

Learning to collaborate : a study of business networks

Purpose – This paper seeks to give empirical examples of the processes whereby networks learn to collaborate. Specifically, the authors aim to examine efforts to learn to collaborate in response to the challenge of climate change. Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses case study research methods to examine concepts previously developed in the literature and propose a conceptual framework of barriers to learning to collaborate. Findings – Existing research on collaboration over environmental issues highlights the prevalence of cognitive deficiencies, an abundance of conflicts and disputes and the ignorance of exchange opportunities among interdependent actors. Based on a theoretical review and an empirical case study, the authors put forward a framework that involves three stages. The paper proposes that networks learning to collaborate undergo a process of: framing the problem; negotiating; and achieving wise trades. Practical implications – At all three of the stages given above, there are significant cognitive biases, which can lead to failure to learn to collaborate. The paper gives examples that should help businesses and regulators to understand and avoid in-built barriers that could lead to a failure of the network to learn to collaborate. Originality/value – The paper reviews a number of research disciplines linked to collaboration and gives an empirical case study that explores their links. The authors then propose a conceptual framework of barriers to learning to collaborate, which can be used to help guide practitioners. Failure to learn to collaborate can be found in the many contemporary cases of conflicts and disputes; such as in the areas of intellectual property rights, international trade, inter-firm alliances and vertical marketing systems.

Negotiating in networks: unleashing the power of options

University of Bath Suppliers in business markets are faced with a relatively small number of significant customers with which they must negotiate about numerous issues surrounding complex offerings. Each of these negotiations does not take place in isolation. Each is part of a complex and continuing relationship between the companies and each affects and is affected by the other relationships and negotiations of the companies in the surrounding network. This paper moves beyond the tradition of examining dyadic processes in negotiation to investigate negotiations in networks of organisations, as a way of contributing to an understanding of customer behaviour. This is based on the idea that a network view can provide a more complete understanding of negotiations and conversely, that an understanding of the process of negotiations can improve our understanding of networks. Adopting this alternate perspective provides a new intellectual lens that allows managers to “unleash the power of options” inherent in networks of organisations. Instead of providing prescriptions for deal making, we draw from the research experience of the IMP group to develop a description that explores and explains some aspects of the practice of inter-organisational negotiations.

Mobilizing ideas in knowledge networks - A social network analysis of the human resource management community 1990-2005

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show the role of social networks in mobilizing how actors both impact and are impacted on by their colleagues. It seeks to compare the human resource management (HRM) academic community with two other comparable communities, and to identify those groups that are seen to work closely together.Design/methodology/approach – It is shown how social network analysis (SNA) can be utilized to analyse data in social networks, shedding light on the cliques and networks of people that work together over a period of time. This is based on an analysis of co‐authored papers in the field of HRM between 1990 and 2005.Findings – It is shown how the HRM community has developed over time utilizing various SNA metrics and this community of scholars is shown to be less “dense” than comparable academic networks, being made up of several weakly‐linked subcomponents. The paper also identifies the “ego‐nets” of individuals that are indicative of different publishing strategies.Originality...