Ethical and Moral Dilemmas Associated with Strategic Relationships between Business-to-Business Buyers and Sellers |
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Authors: | Nigel F Piercy Nikala Lane |
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Institution: | (1) Warwick Business School, The University of Warwick, Scarman Building, Gibbett’s Hill Road, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK |
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Abstract: | While ethical and moral issues have been widely considered in the general areas of marketing and sales, similar attention
has not been given to the impact of strategic account management (SAM) approaches to handling the relationships between suppliers
and very␣large customers. SAM approaches have been widely␣adopted by suppliers as a mechanism for managing␣relationships and
partnerships with dominant customers␣– characterized by high levels of buyer–seller inter-dependence and forms of collaborative
partnership. Observation suggests that the perceived moral intensity of␣these relationships is commonly low, notwithstanding
the underlying principles of benefiting the few (large, strategic customers) at the expense of the many (smaller customers
and other stakeholders), and the magnitude of the consequences of concessions made to large customers, even though some such
consequences may be unintended. Dilemmas exist also for executives implementing strategic account relationships regarding
such issues as information sharing, trust, and hidden incentives for unethical behaviour. We propose the need for greater
transparency and senior management questioning of the ethical and moral issues implicit in strategic account management.
Nigel F. Piercy (Nigel.Piercy@wbs.ac.uk) is Professor in Marketing and Strategic Management, Warwick Business School, The
University of Warwick, UK. He holds a PhD from the University of Wales and a higher doctorate (DLitt) from Heriot-Watt University,
Edinburgh. His current research interests focus on strategic sales and account management. His work has been published in
many journals including Organizational Dynamics, the Journal of World Business, the British Journal of Management, the Journal
of Marketing, and the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science.
Nikala Lane (Nikala.Lane@wbs.ac.uk) is Senior Lecturer in Marketing and Strategic Management, Warwick Business School, The
University of Warwick, UK. She holds a PhD from the University of Wales and was previously Senior Research Associate at Cardiff
University. Her research interests are focused on gender and ethics issues in sales and marketing management. Her work has
been published widely in the international literature, and includes articles in the Journal of Management Studies, the British
Journal of Management, the Journal of Business Ethics, and the Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management. |
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Keywords: | buyer– seller relationships ethical dilemmas governance interorganizational relationships marketing moral dilemmas selling strategic account management unintended consequences |
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