Tibor Mandják

How can economic sociology help business relationship management

Purpose – By analyzing organizations as social actors and business relationships as social relationships, sociology can improve business relationship management. This paper aims to explore the issues involved.Design/methodology/approach – A business relationship is an interactive exchange between two organizations embedded in a network of business connections. The paper reviews theories of social actions and social actors and the concepts of economic field and embeddedness to illustrate some social dimensions of business relationships.Findings – Social action and social actor theories emphasize that co‐operation is always encumbered with conflicts, that consciousness about the relationship is fundamental for both strongly and weakly structured actors, and that actors (people involved in a business relationship) always have some freedom of manoeuvre. The concept of economic field underscores the specificity of each business relationship and the critical need for concrete analysis. The concept of embeddedne...

An old picture … or is it? The relations between business and political networks in Hungary

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to address two questions: how do business and political (i.e. party politics and state) networks relate? What are the consequences of the relations between these two networks for the behaviour of the actors involved? Design/methodology/approach The research design consists of the historical approach based on relevant literature sources of the past, a relatively long period – from 1968, the beginning of the era of market socialism, until the first decade of the twenty-first century, by which time the market economy had been established for more than 20 years. The authors analyse the behaviour of economic and non-economic actors in Hungary based on cases and historical data, applying the IMP network approach. Findings Research findings demonstrate the long-term influence of the relation between business and bureaucratic networks on managerial and organizational network behaviour. The old and new pictures of the economic system are different, but the background to the pictures and the movement in the two pictures are quite similar. Research limitations/implications The historical illustrations and cases the authors have presented cannot be too widely generalized: the characteristics of the Hungarian mode of transition from market socialism to market economy impose important limitations on the generalizability of the findings. Practical implications The study offers lessons to policy makers: policy decisions can have long term, unanticipated impacts on non-target areas as well. Social implications The results confirm that the informal networks of socialism can replicate themselves and network structures can be repurposed in the system after the transition as well. Originality/value One contribution of the paper is related to the second network paradox: the cases illustrate non-business relationships with non-economic factors, particularly relations with bureaucracy. The other contribution is the description of how the transition from socialism to capitalism affected the networks that firms were embedded in before and after the transition.

The key role of infrastructure in backshoring operations: the case of free zones

ABSTRACT ‘Backshoring’ or ‘reshoring’ is a key issue for governments and companies. This article aims to address the role of infrastructure in backshoring process through the free zone areas. Based on the interactive network approach, two case studies have been analysed, one in the United States of America and the other in Mauritius. Results show the helpfulness of this broader view in understanding certain characteristics of backshoring. From this perspective, we could consider backshoring as a network process that binds actors locally thanks to the reshoring of resources in order to combine them and create new value with domestic activities. These activities are neither the same as they were when domestic, nor the same as when they were once abroad because the whole interaction process in the supply chain networks changes the nature of interactions. This research concludes that, offshoring, then backshoring transforms the use of resources, its allocation among actors (countries, clusters and companies) and therefore explains pericentral reverse offshoring.

Hungarian tender buyers: Some results of an empirical research study

In this paper we present some results of our exploratory research about Hungarian tender buyers activity and culture. We try to formulate some questions for future research. Hungarian bidding habits and behavior are not yet deeply researched. The goal of this pilot study is to take a snapshot of the Hungarian tendering processes from the point of view of the seller-buyer interaction. Content analysis has been chosen as the methodological framework because of its potential for examining not well structured, symbolic, mainly behavioral or qualitative data. The most important findings drawn from analysing 515 Hungarian calls for tender published in May and June 1996 are as follows: • ⊎buyers use a tendering process mainly if it is obligatory by law; • ⊎vernmental and institutional buyers represent more than 75 percent of bids; • ⊎prequalification tenders have a law rate; • ⊎projects are the most frequented objects of bids

Emergence of a higher education born global in Africa: The role of the business network

The aim of this article is to identify the role of the business network in the emergence of a higher education born global in Africa, which must become international as soon as it is created in order to ensure its longevity. The emergence of a new international business school in Togo is analyzed from a business network perspective. The establishment of key interorganizational relations thanks to signs of institutional and individual trust participates in the emergence of a new organization in an environment characterized by strong barriers to entry (national and international accreditations, media rankings, etc.). The application of theories borrowed from business networks and international entrepreneurship in the higher education sector is an original contribution to the research. Our results are focused on the emergence phase of the business network and greatly enrich the works that are more dedicated to the network consolidation phase.

The impact of institutional changes on the Tunisian auto parts aftermarket

Purpose The paper addresses the effects of deep environmental changes on business network actors’ behaviors. The consequences of political, institutional, and socio-economic changes on Tunisian automotive spare-parts distribution networks during the past 5 years are examined. We chose the Tunisian automotive spare-parts distribution network for several important reasons. Most importantly, it gave us a unique platform to study the aftermath of deep political, socio-economic, and governance shocks caused by the Jasmin Revolution on a historically stable, simple, and productive business network within the import dependent Tunisian spare-parts distribution system. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative, exploratory research project was conducted in Tunisia to assess and interpret changes in actors’ behaviors and business relationships within the automobile parts aftermarket due to major social, economic, and political upheavals. Automobile parts jobbers served as principal source of data for investigations...

Owner Relationships – A Parallel Network Force

Abstract A special type of interaction and relationship exists between owners and public companies. Applying the business relationship perspective to owner relationships has some interesting implications. Contemporary theory assumes that the role of the owner is mainly providing financial resources (funding). Taking the business network perspective, the owner’s relationships are also important as these influence and shape interaction patterns including business relationships and thus the business network. Prior research has shown that the owner – especially if it is a business unit – can be directly involved in both the choice and development of specific customer and/or supplier relationships. These influences from owners can be much more important for the development of the company in question than providing financial resources. One consequence of applying this relationship view on ownership is that it offers the possibility of discussing public ownership in a similar way as private ownership.

The influence of economic crises on network behavior

Purpose Following industrial network theory, this paper aims to address network behavior from a focal company’s perspective. Special attention is paid to examining the effect of perceptions of the economic crisis on network behavior. Design/methodology/approach The study is built on a quantitative analysis of an empirical database of 300 companies based on a survey completed in 2013 in Hungary. A focal company network behavior model was developed and applied to investigate the link between variables (valuable customer relationships, valuable supplier relationships, relationship strategy and relational outcomes) and the effect of managers’ perceptions about the intensity of the crisis. To obtain a deeper understanding of the effect of the crisis, structural modeling methodology was applied during data analysis. Findings How crises are perceived has a moderating influence on companies’ network behavior. In a context in which a crisis is strongly perceived, valuable customer relationships are considered more important than valuable supplier relationships; relationship strategy becomes more intensive; and performance is increasingly focused on operations and less on innovation. The main difference in network behavior is found with the management of the supply side. A different level of attention is paid to supplier relationships in a high crisis-perception context than when a crisis is perceived as being less critical. Research limitations/implications Results emphasize the importance of perceptions as a key factor in managerial attitudes, behavior and, ultimately, decision-making. This finding merits more attention from both researchers of business relationships and networks. Practical implications From a managerial point of view, the results emphasize the existence of potentially new opportunities in network management. The reinforcement of attention to the customer during a period of crisis implies the importance of the customer orientation, but also suggests that firms may have unexploited opportunities and more potential resources on the supplier side. Originality/value The paper combines an analysis of network behavior and perceptions of crisis, helping to explain managerial decisions and attitudes. Analysis was undertaken from a focal firms’ perspective and differences were investigated in attitudes concerning both supplier- and customer-side relations. How crises are perceived is a moderating variable of network behavior.

Understanding Relationship Value Applying a Cognitive Mapping Approach: A customer Perspective

We consider Vvalue creation as a process achieved in a business relationship has turned out to be one of as the fundamental questions in of B2B marketing. Value creation is a process achieved in a business relationship. We put forward the hypotheses that the value of a business relationship presents a particular combination in time of economic and non-economic (social) components, which are interrelated. Both the buyer (purchasing) and the seller (marketing) always have their own interpretation of business relationship value. A cognitive approach is implemented to shed light on the collective representation of a value phenomenon and to understand the three levels (episode, relationship and network) and two-dimensional conceptualization of focal relationship value. Our research focuses on understanding, representing and a further measuring of the economic and non-economic components of the value of a business relationship using a causal mapping technique. -------------------------------- Az uzleti kapcsolatokon keresztul letrejovő ertekteremtes folyamata napjainkban a szervezetkozi (business) marketing alapvető kerdesei koze tartozik. Kiindulo hipotezisunk, hogy az uzleti kapcsolatok erteke egymassal osszefuggő, gazdasagi es nem-gazdasagi (szocialis) elemekben tevődik ossze. Mind a vevő (beszerző), mind az elado (marketinges) sajat maga interpretalja, ertelmezi az uzleti kapcsolat erteket. A kutatasunkban alkalmazott kognitiv megkozelites lehetőve teszi az ertek kollektiv megjeleniteset, es a fokalis kapcsolati ertek haromszintű (epizod, kapcsolat, halozat) ketdimenzios megkozeliteset. Az uzleti kapcsolatok ertekenek gazdasagi es nem gazdasagi elemeinek megertesere, bemutatasara es meresere a kognitiv terkepek modszeret hasznaljuk.