Relationship and Market Conditions: Outcomes in Marketing Channels

Purpose: In today's highly competitive business environment, many organizations are tending to reduce the number of suppliers to focus on establishing stable and close relationships with a small number of them. The study here analyzes the influence of both market and relationship conditions on trust, commitment, and customer loyalty.

Methodology/Approach: Empirical research was conducted by collecting information from a sample of 304 retailers. A structural equations model is estimated.

Findings: Results support a positive influence of relationship value on trust and, in turn, on long-term orientation and commitment, with the latter as a strong antecedent of customer loyalty. In contrast, dependence on the main supplier does not seem to exert a significant effect on long-term orientation and commitment.

Originality/Value/Contribution: The evidence suggests that relationship conditions are important for creating value in B2B settings. Results shed additional light on the process of calculating, creating and claiming value.     

How supermarket chains in Taiwan select suppliers of fresh fruit and vegetables via direct purchasing

This research focuses on evaluating the criteria used to select suppliers of fresh fruit and vegetables in the supermarket retail chains in Taiwan via direct purchasing. The research sample consisted of procurement managers from supermarket retailers. Interviews with these managers were conducted to produce the first stage expert questionnaire. Following this, the fuzzy Delphi method was adopted to screen the preliminary criteria and the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process was then used to discover the relative importance of each criterion. Research results revealed the most important supplier selection attributes to be procurement price, product quality, product consistency, and food safety. For suppliers of fresh produce, seeking to develop more collaborative relationships with retailers characterized by mutual advantages and trust need to understand how retailers choose their suppliers.     

Driving In-Role and Extra-Role Brand Performance among Retail Frontline Salespeople: Antecedents and the Moderating Role of Customer Orientation

The organizational frontline in retail represents the frontline for an entire supply chain. This channel structure distances the branded supplier from the end consumer and makes the supplier dependent on a retail frontline salesperson that (1) it does not control and (2) also represents competing brands. This study reveals mechanisms that the supplier may use to influence retail frontline salespeople. We demonstrate the importance of consumer marketing programs and supplier representatives in building brand identification between the manufacturer’s brand and the retail frontline employee that translates into increased brand sales, while also revealing the role of rewards programs in stimulating brand-specific extra-role behaviors. Interestingly, retail frontline customer orientation, built by the retailer, diminishes the effect of brand extra-role behaviors toward the focal brand on the focal brand’s sales, providing an informal control mechanism for retailers to protect its objectives. The results of this study have powerful ramifications for both retailers and suppliers in achieving both their mutual, and sometimes differing, objectives related to the retail frontline.     

The impact of electronic point of sale technology (epos) on marketing strategy and retailer‐supplier relationships

EPOS is an established and rapidly growing feature of the UK retail scene with a wide range of potential impacts across the whole value chain. This paper focuses upon the more immediate impact of EPOS on the marketing strategies of retailers and their suppliers and on the retailer‐supplier relationship. Emphasis is given to the potential which EPOS presents for the development of new approaches to channel co‐operation and for the building of new patterns of strategic alliance.     

Exploring collaborative technology utilization in retailer-supplier performance

This study examines the technological investments that retail managers must effectively manage in conjunction with supplier partners to reap superior gains. Today retailers are warming up to the benefits of implementing partnering technologies that provide them with much needed informational and relational resource linkages. This study supports the importance of effective management of supply chain technologies from a retail perspective. Ultimately, this study calls for retail managers and researchers to embrace partner based technology harnessing informational and relational resources that drive overall performance — even more so if they are ready to implement technology.     

The Impact of Key Retail Accounts on Supplier Performance: A Collaborative Perspective of Resource Dependency Theory

Existing literature suggests that the increasing concentration in the retail industry is allowing powerful retailers to exploit their weaker suppliers, which causes the suppliers’ performance to suffer. This study takes a collaborative perspective of resource dependency theory and suggests that when suppliers engage in supply chain relationships with key retail account (KRA) customers, their performance may improve, depending on the varying levels of the supplier's and KRAs’ market shares. The empirical analysis of data from two large retailers, Wal-Mart and Target, and a broad cross-section of their suppliers provides ample support for most of the hypotheses set forth in this paper: Suppliers that depend on KRAs for a significant share of their total revenues relinquish some of their leverage in the marketplace, but as the KRAs gain market share, their suppliers’ performance tends to increase. Cumulatively, these results provide evidence of collaborative supplier–KRA relationships, such that a supplier's dependency on KRAs may positively affect supplier performance. This finding supports a more positive, symbiotic view of dependency, resulting in important implications for key account management, supply chain management, and retail research and practice.     

零售企业的物流模式及其影响因素研究

本文以零售企业的物流活动作为研究对象,通过实地走访调查和案例分析,研究了零售企业在中国目前条件下所采用的物流模式,以及影响零售企业选择物流模式的主要因素。调查与分析结果显示:第一,在目前的零售物流中,供应商主导的物流模式占居主导地位,而其中又以M12(供应商→零售商→消费者)最为普遍;第二,被调查的大部分零售企业使用了两种以上的物流模式,其中一种是主要的,其他则是辅助的;第三,即使采用相同的物流模式,各个企业的具体操作方法也有很多不同。第四,一些因素(如供应商的规模与实力、物流成本、产品特点和环境条件)被普遍认为对零售企业选择物流模式有影响,而另外一些因素(如零售企业的规模和实力、物流对零售企业成功的影响程度、零售企业的经营组织形式和业态等)则只被个别企业认为对其选择物流模式有影响。本文最后对这些结果的意义进行了讨论。     

Relational Resources in Interorganizational Exchange: The Effects of Trade Equity and Brand Equity

This research examines the effects of two key relational resources in relationships between retailers and national brand manufacturers. We introduce the new concept of trade equity, defined here as the value that accrues to a firm from being known in a trading network as a trustworthy trading partner, to explore the relational resources that are inherent in a firm’s ties with trading partners. We consider brand equity to represent relational resources that are located in a firm’s relational ties with end consumers. Based on data collected in a survey of 797 home appliance retailers, results show that a manufacturer’s trade equity and brand equity have differential effects on the retailer’s dependence and commitment to the manufacturer. Findings show that a manufacturer’s brand equity strengthens the effect of its trade equity on the retailer’s dependence and weakens the effect on the retailer’s commitment.     

Perceived trust in contractual channel dyads: an exploratory investigation of Finnish food retailers

Distributor firms have found long-term contracting an effective means of gaining competitive advantage. To realize these benefits, the alliance should involve trusting others. However, contracts can also be one-sided rather than reciprocal, favouring the larger business partner. Should trust develop naturally where there are formal contracts defining the terms of the relationship? And what inducements should a supplier take to gain retailers' trust? The trade-off is further complicated when the retailers operate in a small market with few suppliers and high barriers to entry. This study focuses on these questions. We use original field data from Finnish food retailers who have signed a written agreement with their focal wholesaler. We find that maintaining autonomy increases trust in the relationship. We also find that regular communication in the dyad and balance between perceived rewards and contributions are associated with higher levels of trust. In turn, intrachannel competition strongly reduces retailers' trust in the dyad.     

An Identification-Based Model of Supplier-Retailer Communication

ABSTRACT

The theoretical basis of the current thinking on supplier-retailer communication is refined and an alternative model is offered and empirically tested. It is argued and empirically demonstrated that identification is an important mediator in bringing about relational outcomes in a supplier-retailer relationship. Specifically, collaborative communication (higher rather than lower frequency, informality, bidirectionality, and indirectness of communication) from the suppliers is found to be positively related to their coordination with the retailers directly and indirectly through identification, trust, and commitment.     

The paradox of diminishing returns: Measurement and metrics for valuation of B2C sales professionals

Abstract

The realization of channel multiplicity is increasingly present in retail exchanges. Retailers understand that consumers may seek information in one channel and complete their purchases in another channel. Researchers have labeled this retailing concept as “showrooming.” Showrooming suggests that retail salespeople may provide information, services, and suggestions that generate retail sales revenues at another time in another place. While they likely mediate exchange value, retail salespersons’ contributions to building sales revenues and customer relationships may be difficult to measure. The degree of value engendered in the retail sales role set is associated with product and transaction complexity. As such, retail sales functions may range from highly transactional (i.e., facilitating a transaction) to highly relational (i.e., building retail patronage). This article proffers a taxonomy of retail salespeople based on sales role sets: Companions, Consultants, Clerks, and Closers. Managerial recommendations are provided for measuring retail salesperson performance in an omni-channel marketplace.     

Retailers’ Price Positioning and the Motivational Profiling of Store‐Brand Shoppers: The Case of Spain

In recent years, retailers have worked to advance store‐brand strategies, leading to greater success and higher congruence with the retailer's positioning. In this new competitive context, this research aims to characterize store‐brand shoppers in terms of motivation and benefits sought, as well as analyze, on the basis of congruence theory, the moderating role of a retailer's price positioning on store‐brand shopper characterizations. The empirical study combines survey and household panel information related to leading retailers in Spain; the findings reveal that store‐brand shoppers are motivated by their price sensitivity, whereas they are less sensitive to service quality and name brands. However, the retailer's price positioning exerts a moderating effect on shopper profiles: In less price‐oriented retail chains, store‐brand purchases seem motivated less by price and more by quality, brand awareness, and brand reputation.     

Relationship learning from organizational knowledge stores

This study examines the effect of relationship learning between customers and suppliers on relational knowledge stores and the moderating role of dyadic trust. The results reveal that relationship-learning activities between customers and suppliers are positive in managing customers' relational knowledge stores, comprising those of interactive, functional, environmental, and interpersonal knowledge. Trust has no moderating effect on the relationship between relationship learning and environmental knowledge stores; while, in contrast, greater levels of trust will advance relationship learning at an escalating rate and trust accordingly plays a moderating role on the other three knowledge stores. The positive effects of relationship learning on interactive, functional, and interpersonal knowledge stores escalate when the level of trust is medium; the effects decreases under conditions of high or low trust. This study confirms the positive relationship between relationship learning and relational knowledge stores and further reveals the threshold effect of trust.     

The critical role of trust in obtaining retailer support for a supplier’s strategic organizational change

It is well established in the marketing literature that the bond of trust is a cornerstone of interorganizational relationships. However, trust is considered to be context-specific, as it is difficult to endow on new relationships. We argue that the existing trust between organizations not only survives tough and shifting times, but also helps steer those organizations through such trying periods. We investigated a context where a major change was instituted in a cooperative marketing channel. Here, the supplier (the focal channel member) had to convince the other channel members (the retailers) about the impending merger, which may or may not bring benefits to all. We empirically show the existing trust in the supplier was a major determinant of the support for the merger and inducing the post-merger trust in and commitment to the changed supplier.     

Effects of Relational Capabilities and Power Asymmetry on Innovativeness and Flexibility of Sub‐Sahara Africa Small Exporting Firms

The objective of this study is to examine the effects of relational capabilities and exercise of power on innovativeness, flexibility, and performance of Sub‐Sahara Africa small exporters. Data from a sample of 206 small fresh produce suppliers in Zimbabwe that had long‐term relationships with retail buyers in export markets were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Findings suggest that long‐term cooperation between small suppliers and buyers negatively influenced innovativeness and flexibility. However, trust and commitment, as well as dependence, positively impacted innovativeness of small suppliers but had negative effects on flexibility. Further, innovativeness negatively influenced firm performance, whereas a positive link emerged between flexibility and performance.     

The impact of retail buyer innovativeness on suppliers’ adaptive selling in Japanese buyer–supplier relationships

Abstract

We investigate the critical role of retail buyer innovativeness in Japanese buyer–supplier relationships and explore its link to suppliers’ adaptive selling, cooperative relationships, and retail competitiveness. Further, we examine how process conflict between merchandizing and store divisions moderates the relationship between retail buyer innovativeness and suppliers’ adaptive selling. This study employs a structural equation model using survey data from 246 heads of merchandizing divisions at Japanese retail companies. Our findings highlight the importance of both mitigating process conflict and facilitating suppliers’ adaptive selling in order to improve Japanese retailers’ competitiveness, especially when buyers are highly innovative.     

THE BENEFITS OF USING E‐BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY: THE SUPPLIER PERSPECTIVE

The use of e‐business technologies between supply chain organizations has primarily been examined from the viewpoint of buying firms or retailers, with little attention given to the benefits accrued to suppliers. Further, previous studies have been limited to either financial or marketing performance measures, or a narrow range of operational measures. This study builds on research in this area by testing a model of the relationship between supplier use of e‐business technologies in communication with their primary buyer, degree of buyer‐supplier coordination, and a complete set of benefits that include strategic and operational performance measures. Using data from 241 first‐tier OEM suppliers in the computer industry, the findings show that supplier use of e‐business technologies positively impacts organizational benefits both directly and indirectly by promoting buyer‐supplier coordination.     

The Impact of Relational Governance on Relational Exchange Performance: A Case of the Taiwanese Automobile Industry

Relational governance affects manufacturers’ ability to adapt flexibly to uncertainty in manufacturer–supplier relationships. Enhancing manufacturer–supplier relationships requires considering supplier willingness and opinions on the relational governance of their focal manufacturer and the effect of relational governance on relational exchange performance. After reviewing the related literature, I identified the antecedents of relational governance affecting suppliers’ relationships with their focal manufacturers and explored the effect of relational governance on relational exchange performance, taking relationship value and relationship norms as the intervening constructs. Data were collected from 241 usable questionnaires that had been completed by suppliers for all Taiwanese automobile manufacturers. The hypotheses were tested with respondent data by using a structural equation model. The results indicated that relational governance directly and positively relates to relationship value and relationship norms, relationship value and relationship norms directly and positively relate to relational exchange performance, and customer focus and competitive priorities directly and positively relate to relational governance.     

A dual‐sequence framework for B2C relationship formation: Moderating effects of employee communication style in online group chat

Past research on B2C relationships has typically focused on unidimensional constructs of satisfaction, trust, and commitment, ignoring underlying psychological dimensions. Although some studies have examined cognitive and affective dimensions of these relational constructs, dual sequential effects in relationship formation have not been investigated. This study proposes and finds (in the context of online group chat) that parallel cognitive and affective sequences of relationship formation take place, thus expanding scholarly understanding of underlying psychological processes and offering marketing practitioners two different ways to build relationships with consumers. The proposed dual‐sequence relational framework further advances theory by shedding light on counterintuitive findings in past research. The study also supports the proposed moderating effects of employee communication style, such that sequential effects of cognitive (affective) relational constructs are stronger with a task‐oriented (socially oriented) employee, thus offering insights to practitioners in hiring and training employees to match specific organizational goals for building relationships with consumers. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Understanding B2B Supplier Selection Relationships: The Case of Taiwan Agribusinesses

Purpose: This article seeks to investigate the factors impacting the selection of suppliers in the Taiwan agribusiness sector and explore the relative importance of these factors. In addition, it explores the potential differences based on the organization's size and stakeholders (i.e., buyer versus supplier and management versus operational).

Methodology/Approach: This study is exploratory in nature and involves a two-stage process. In the first stage, in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 agribusiness professionals in Taiwan to determine the relevance of the current literature about the criteria used in the selection of suppliers in the Taiwan agribusiness industry. The second stage involved 16 case studies with 32 interviews, using information gathered from the first stage.

Findings: Findings revealed that the support of the 22 selection criteria presented in the preliminary framework was important to influencing an organization's selection of suppliers in the Taiwan agribusiness industry. The findings suggest that Taiwan agribusiness buyers consider the financial position of the suppliers and the quality of their managerial teams as critically important in the supplier selection process. There was little indication that the desire for business, geographical location, and repair service were regarded as important criteria for selecting suppliers.

Research Implications/Limitations: The findings of this research have added new insights to the existing literature of B2B supplier selection criteria with the identification of two additional criteria (innovativeness and willingness to cooperate). The exploratory nature of this study and the initial development of a framework of supplier selection within the context of the Taiwan agribusiness industry had constrained the applicability of the findings to other markets and industries.

Practical Implications: The findings highlighted a list of important selection criteria that agribusiness managers can consider during their supplier selection process. In addition, the findings can assist agribusiness managers from supplying organizations to build on their organizations' strengths and capabilities in meeting those important supplier selection criteria so that they can stay ahead in the increasingly competitive agribusiness industry.

Originality/Value/Contribution: By focusing on the agribusiness sector, this study provides insights into a much neglected industry where supplier selection is a crucial issue to many agribusinesses, particularly from the perspective of major buyers in value-adding agribusiness enterprises.