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- Anderson, Helén, et al.
(författare)
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Do Competition Authorities Consider Business Relationships?
- 2012
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Ingår i: Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing. - : Taylor and Francis (Routledge). - 1051-712X .- 1547-0628. ; 19:1, s. 67-92
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose: Companies engage in business relationships for a variety of reasons, including specialization, product development, and building competitive networks. Research has demonstrated that mergers and acquisitions (Mandamp;As) may challenge ongoing business relationships. The purpose of this article is to investigate whether and how competition authorities consider business relationships when evaluating Mandamp;As. less thanbrgreater than less thanbrgreater thanMethodology: The article uses the documentation from 450 Mandamp;As reported to the Swedish competition authority to capture the way in which an authority evaluates Mandamp;As. The Swedish competition authority evaluation corresponds to other national and international evaluation procedures. less thanbrgreater than less thanbrgreater thanFindings: The findings indicate that the competition authorities neglect an important aspect of business life, namely companies forming business relationships. The competition authorities evaluate Mandamp;As on the basis of risk for price increases, and consequently disregard such issues as heterogeneity in demand and offerings, and values built into existing business relationships. less thanbrgreater than less thanbrgreater thanOriginality/Value/Contribution: The article contributes to research on business relationships through exploring how a public authority deals with such relationships. It also contributes to research on mergers and acquisitions through examining how these activities are evaluated by competition authorities. Furthermore, the article contributes to competition research by reflecting on competition law concerning Mandamp;A regulations in relation to business relationships.
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| 2. |
- Anisimova, Tatiana, et al.
(författare)
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Aligning Company and Dealer Perspectives in Corporate Branding : Implications for Dealer Satisfaction and Commitment
- 2014
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Ingår i: Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing. - 1051-712X .- 1547-0628. ; 21:1, s. 35-56
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose: There is a contention in marketing literature that gaps between corporate and key stakeholders’ perspectives have unfavorable implications for corporate brand performance. The current article attempts to empirically substantiate this argument. As such, this article looks at the relationship between a car manufacturer and its dealers and examines it from the perspective of the relationship misalignment.Methodology: Applying the Profile Deviation method, this study tests the effects of a manufacturer–dealer corporate brand misalignment on dealer satisfaction and commitment. The manager-specified ideal profile for a corporate brand was used as a proxy for a manufacturer perspective and a benchmark against which dealer perceptions were compared. The corporate brand construct encompassed the dimensions of corporate image, corporate personality and dealer-experienced value. Hypotheses were tested using Pearson correlations and multiple regressions.Findings: Results, which were robust across all the corporate brand dimensions, support the hypotheses of negative performance impact of manufacturer-dealer misalignment.Originality/value/contribution: This study identifies an important link between the theoretical proposition and the operationalization test of examining performance implications of misalignment. The current study argues for broader integrative thinking and cross-disciplinary research in business-to-business marketing. In the absence of the relevant literature on conceptualization and operationalization in the marketing literature, the article borrows a testing method of Profile Deviation from the management field. By developing a fine-grained analysis, the current study pinpoints specific aspects that require co-alignment in corporate branding, thus facilitating managerial decision-making.Research implications/limitations: The current study demonstrates that deviation from a corporate perspective implies a weakness in corporate branding process with negative performance consequences. The Profile Deviation perspective used in this article has focused on a static, cross-sectional approach for specifying and testing misalignment between a manufacturer and its dealer principles. The researchers are encouraged to consider alternative mechanisms to test for misalignment as a dynamic task within a longitudinal research design.Practical implications: Companies must be aware of the areas where gaps can occur that impede effective decision-making. Aligning a corporate brand between a company and members of the distribution channel requires careful implementation that encourages dealer inputs in brand operations while avoiding counter-productive implications.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Laage-Hellman, Jens, 1947, et al.
(författare)
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Customer Involvement in Product Development: An Industrial Network Perspective
- 2014
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Ingår i: Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing. - 1051-712X .- 1547-0628. ; 21:4, s. 257-276
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose: In business markets, working with customers and users has become increasingly important to get knowledge about customer needs and to develop new products. The purpose of this article is twofold: (1) to develop a framework for analyzing customer involvement in product development in a business market context, and (2) to apply this framework to a particular company to describe and analyze how it practices customer involvement.Methodology/approach: The article takes its main theoretical starting point in the industrial network approach, but also uses other literature from the innovation and product development field. The empirical study applies a qualitative case study approach and focuses on one company in the truck business.Findings: The suggested framework deals with four key aspects of customer involvement: Why, when, how, and who. The observed pattern of the truck manufacturer shows how dealers, hauliers, and truck drivers are all part of the overall understanding of the customer. These actors are involved for different, typically very clear, purposes at different points in time through surveys, product clinics, and field testing. The pattern, referred to as mixed facilitative, is not one of close collaboration with individual customers, but one of broad involvement of several customers through business intelligence and direct involvement.Research implications: First, the article provides researchers with a framework and method for studying customer involvement in product development. Second, the case study provides an illustrative example of the customer involvement pattern pursued by a leading company in a major industry. This enhances the understanding of the focal phenomenon, leads to managerial implications, and gives ideas for future research.Practical implications: There are several managerial implications related to the why, when, how, and who questions. For example, it is pointed out that managers should consider involving customers more extensively than what seems to be common today-for example, by using customers as codevelopers, working with them throughout the entire development process (i.e., not only early and late), and including different types of users (with different requirements and wishes).Originality/value/contribution of the article: The contribution lies in the development of a framework centered on the four key questions of customer involvement in product development and using this framework for observing a pattern, and finding explanations and relating this pattern to how other firms are doing.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Mysen, Tore, et al.
(författare)
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Relationship Quality – Relationship Value and Power Balance in Business Relationships : Descriptives and Propositions
- 2012
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Ingår i: Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing. - Philadelphia, USA : Routledge. - 1051-712X .- 1547-0628. ; 19:3, s. 248-285
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose: The objective of this study is to develop understanding of the interplay between the perceptions of power balance, relationship value, and relationship quality between retail distributors and their suppliers.Methodology: The authors applied a phenomenological approach in both qualitative and quantitative data collections and analyses. Key informants in 27 of the dominant retail distributors within 5 Norwegian industries and 50 of their most important suppliers were interviewed.Findings: The power balance seems to favor the retail distributors. Retail distributors and suppliers tell of somewhat different characteristics pertaining to "best" and "worst" relationships relating to economic-, capability-, and integration-based values as perceived between retail distributors and their suppliers.Research limitations/implications: The empirical findings indicate the complexity in assessing relationship quality and show a rich basis for further research, thereby contributing to knowledge and insights in characterizing relationship quality when power is asymmetrically distributed between distributors and their suppliers. However, personal interviews may reveal answers at rational, cognitive, and even emotional levels, thus complicating subjective analysis.Practical implications: The results of the study are important for both researchers and practitioners on both sides of retail distributor-supplier relationships.Originality/value: This study advances the work on what characterizes relationship quality in asymmetric power business relationships.© 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.
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| 7. |
- Nordin, Fredrik, 1967-, et al.
(författare)
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Disintermediation in Business-to-Business Service Channels : Mechanisms and Challenges
- 2013
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Ingår i: Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing. - 1051-712X .- 1547-0628. ; 20:4, s. 179-192
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose: The aim of this article is to delineate a number of different disintermediation mechanisms within the context of business-to-business (B2B) service channels and to identify the specific challenges associated with adopting these mechanisms. Methodology: The research was conducted in accordance with abductive reasoning, moving continuously between the empirical world of 4 industrial (B2B) firms and the model world. Findings: This article delineates a choice of 6 disintermediation mechanisms and their attendant challenges within the context of industrial service channels. Contribution: The article provides an original conceptualization of disintermediation, which is detached from the traditional understanding of the concept. As such, it constitutes a useful starting point for the development of a formal theory of disintermediation. Implications for Practice: This article should be useful for practitioners, because it presents various disintermediation options available to industrial firms faced by undesired intermediaries in their industrial service channels.faced by undesired intermediaries in their industrial service channels.
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| 9. |
- Raddats, Chris, et al.
(författare)
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A reconceptualization of manufacturers' service strategies
- 2014
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Ingår i: Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing. - Philadelphia, PA, United States : Routledge. - 1051-712X .- 1547-0628. ; 21:1, s. 19-34
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose: As part of service infusion, manufacturers use services to differentiate their products and provide growth. Although several attempts have been made to classify manufacturers' service strategies and offerings, most have been based on small purposive samples. The purpose of this article is to create a generic typology of manufacturers' service strategies.Methodology/approach: The unit of analysis was the manufacturer or strategic business unit. The data collection was based on a survey of 145 B2B manufacturers in the United Kingdom.Findings: Three categories of service offerings were identified: product-attached services, operations services on own products, and vendor independent operations services. These categories are used to specify three generic service strategies: Services Doubters, for whom services are not a strong differentiator with no focus on any category of service offerings; Services Pragmatists, for whom product-attached services are a key differentiator; Services Enthusiasts, for whom services are both a product differentiator and an enabler of growth, with all three categories of service offerings important.Research implications: Whereas prior studies tend to use the concepts of service strategies and categories of service offerings interchangeably, we find empirical support for the importance of making a clear distinction between the two concepts.Practical implications: Manufacturers can be classified according to their services strategies. For Services Doubters service infusion is unlikely to be an appropriate approach to creating differentiation. For Services Pragmatists services play a crucial role in creating product differentiation. Services Enthusiasts use services to both differentiate their own products and also develop services-led growth.Originality/value/contribution: The paper exposes an ambiguity in the extant literature, with a manufacturer's categories of service offerings used as proxies for service strategies. A new typology of service strategies is presented based on categories of service offerings, which provides insight into how manufacturers infuse services.
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