Building Strategic Partnerships in Wine Marketing

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between U.S. wine distributors and wineries. Specifically, it identifies the factors distributors believe contribute to successful winery-distributor relationships. Web-based survey research was conducted with 81 usable responses received. Results indicate that wine quality, dependability of the producer, price, and personal relationship between the winery and distributor are the most important factors in determining whether a distributor will carry a specific wine in their sales portfolio.     

Internet Usage Within B2B Relationships and Its Impact on Value Creation: A Conceptual Model and Research Propositions

ABSTRACT

The Internet has been described as a major disruptive technology that has changed the face of B2B exchange relationships. This paper considers the Internet and its inherent ability to support value creation within business-to-business relationships. The paper outlines four key characteristics that describe the Internet's attributes relative to value creation and proposes that the Internet's effect depends upon properly aligning these attributes with the economic and relational factors driving value creation. In particular, the paper proposes a contextual relationship between Internet usage, joint action, and the resources shared between exchange partners.     

Insights into Closeness of Relationship as Determinant of Trust Within Marketing Channels

Abstract

This article explores the role of closeness of relationship between channel members. Closeness is put forward as a genuine variable in channel relationships, as part of the processes that take place in marketing channel dyad interactions. Advances in theory of channel relationships are proposed by a deeper theoretical development of the concept “closeness of relationship” from a multidisciplinary approach by stressing its relevance and by proposing a definition of closeness of relationship. Several features and ideas about closeness are proposed, such as the link between closeness of relationship and type of marketing relationship. Content validity is assessed to distinguish closeness from related constructs before exploring and operationalizing such a concept. The relationship between closeness and trust is explored by proposing actions to increase trust and assessing it empirically. An exploratory research is performed in the Spanish computer sector, testing relationships between a set of closeness components and trust between channel members. Results show that there are two factors underlying the construct closeness: interdependence and communication. However, only communication variables are significantly related to trust. Several conclusions and research propositions relevant for marketing theory and practice are presented.     

Relationship Quality—Relationship Value and Power Balance in Business Relationships: Descriptives and Propositions

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.     

The Relative Effects of Relationship Quality and Exchange Satisfaction on Customer Loyalty

ABSTRACT

This paper addresses two key questions on how supplier firms can better manage industrial buyers to create higher loyalty. The first involves whether to focus on relationship quality or exchange satisfaction. This dual route model towards enhancing loyalty in essence is concerned with comparing the relative strengths of the effect from relationship quality to loyalty and from exchange satisfaction to loyalty. The second point of interest pertains to whether the effects from relationship quality and exchange satisfaction to loyalty are moderated by environmental conditions such as switching barriers and viable alternatives. Using data on business customers' ratings of a major information technology provider, we find that the effect of exchange satisfaction on loyalty is significantly greater than the effect of relationship quality on loyalty. We also find that the impact of exchange satisfaction on loyalty is less sensitive and more stable across different levels of switching barriers and viable alternatives. Conversely, the effect of relationship quality on loyalty is more pronounced to such moderating variables in that the effect of relationship quality on loyalty was greater when switching barriers were low and many viable alternatives existed. Implications for marketing theory and practice are discussed.     

Relative Importance of Distributor Selection Criteria to Independent Restaurant Operators

Abstract

In this study, restaurant operators rated the importance of criteria used to select foodservice distributors. Overall, items related to logistics received the highest ratings, with various value-added services receiving much lower ratings. Differences in ratings were observed between groups of restaurant operators based on size of operation and number of distributors used. Awareness of these attribute importance ratings will benefit distributors by assisting them in decisions regarding value-added service offerings and core service emphasis.     

Information Technology Competence and Value Creation in Supplier-Customer Relationships

Abstract

IT has been proven to have revolutionized business reality in its totality. As such, modern information technologies (IT) may also have an impact on business relationships. However, a detailed analysis of the impact of IT on relationships is still missing. This paper, therefore, provides a discussion of the interplay between IT and relationship variables, i.e., relationship functions, trust and relationship value. An analysis of over 100 German supplier-buyer relationships shows that the impact of IT is not as straightforward as all too often postulated. Moderate levels of IT competence are proven to be the worst-case scenario and as such the main managerial conclusion of this paper is to avoid half-hearted utilization of IT in business relationships.     

Interdependence of Major Exchange Rates in Ghana: A Wavelet Coherence Analysis

ABSTRACT

We have employed the three-dimensional continuous Morlet wavelet transform methodology to explore the co-movement amongst the returns of four major currencies in Ghana (dollar, euro, pound, and yen) for the period May 1999 to February 2018. The analysis reveals that the dynamics of the interdependence of the currencies is time-varying and heterogeneous. Our empirical findings demonstrate that the currencies are closely linked or interconnected. The lead–lag relationships between the returns of the exchange rates established that volatilities in the euro and yen significantly affect movements in the other currencies in daily and weekly exchange rate returns. The presence of lead–lag effects and stronger co-movements at short-run fluctuations may induce arbitrage and diversification opportunities to investors, albeit with limited space. The differences in the co-movements of returns and the evidence of contagion among the foreign exchange markets provide reliable incentive to the monetary authorities for unflinching strides to halt the speeding exchange rates.     

Commitment and Trust in Cross-National Channel Relationships

Abstract

Cross-national channel relationships are becoming increasingly important, so it is time for research in the channels literature to continue beyond a focus of channel relationships within a single country or channel design for market entry. The author presents a model of commitment in cross-national manufacturer-distributor relationshipsthat extends the commitment-trust theory of relationship marketing by incorporating four constructs conceptualized to represent the influence of a firm's current and prospective partners on the focal relationship: resource transferability-to partner; resource transferabil-ity-from partner; resource particularity-adaptation and resource particularity-consumption. Data collected from 143 U.S. manufacturers, 106 Mexican manufacturers, and 97 Mexican distributors show that the model generalizes across this national boundary. In particular, a similar influence of mutuality on trust and trust on commitment was observed for both manufacturers and distributors. The influence of resource transferability, particularity on the relationship, was also observed. The findings provide strong support for extending the commitment-trust theory to aid the study and management of cross-national channel relationships.     

Promotion and Prevention Contracts in Distributor–Supplier Relationship Using Matched Dyadic Data

ABSTRACT

Purpose: This article aims to introduce and distinguish two features of contract design – prevention and promotion contracts – and compares their effects on opportunism within the distributor–supplier relationship. It also examines the moderating role of ex post contract enforcement strategies.

Methodology/approach: The authors test the proposed theoretical model by collecting matched data from distributors and suppliers in China. Moreover, partial least squares regression is used to analyze the data and test the hypothesis model.

Findings: The results show that a prevention contract leads the distributor to vigilantly avoid mistakes and punishments, thereby deterring him from behaving opportunistically. Alternatively, a promotion contract motivates the distributor to make an effort to attain potential long-run payoffs instead of short-term profits, subsequently restraining his opportunism. Overall, the promotion contract is more effective in curbing distributor opportunism than the prevention contract. In addition, the inhibitory effect of a prevention contract on opportunism is reinforced along with a severe contract enforcement strategy. By contrast, a promotion contract effectively mitigates opportunism with a swift contract enforcement strategy.

Originality/value/contribution: This study untangles two distinctive features of contract design – prevention-framed and promotion-framed contracts – and compares their effects on opportunism management. This study also provides a profound understanding of contract effectiveness by revealing the interaction effect between ex ante contract design and ex post contract enforcement.

Research implications: Researchers are encouraged to explore contract effectiveness from a framing perspective. In particular, ex post contract enforcement strategies should be included in research frameworks related to contract governance. Suggestions for further research on the effects of prevention and promotion contracts on different forms of opportunism are also proposed.

Practical implications: This article provides several insightful implications for managers in designing and enforcing contract in business-to-business marketing. Managers can strategically achieve control and motivation effects by consciously making framing decisions in the contract design, further curbing opportunistic behaviors. Moreover, managers can select a contract enforcement strategy in accordance with the contract type to maximize the effects of the specific contract.     

Cooperative Solutions for Large Economies with Asymmetric Information

A proof of the existence of private core allocations is provided for an exchange economy ε where consumers and commodities are both infinite in number, supposing however that only finitely many types can be distinguished among traders. It is obtained passing through the Edgeworth equilibrium notion considered for a suitably associated discrete setting. For this setting a preliminary result—which is interesting in itself—is proved: in every discrete economy E with asymmetric information and unequal numbers of traders with the same characteristics there is a private core allocation which treats agents of the same type equally.     

Hindering or enabling structural social capital to enhance buyer performance? The role of relational social capital at two levels in China

Purpose: In its cognitive, relational, and structural forms, social capital has been identi?ed as a powerful strategic tool. However, prior empirical studies focus only on the direct effect of various dimensions of social capital and address relational social capital at either a dyadic level or a network level. Drawing on the social capital theory and social network theory, this study fills the above-mentioned gaps by examining the role of structural and relational social capital on performance through exploring direct and interaction effects simultaneously and revealing the moderating effect of relational social capital at the dyadic and network levels (including business ties and political ties) simultaneously.

Methodology/Approach: Based on data for 393 distributors from China, a moderated regression analysis is used to test the hypotheses.

Findings: The empirical test generally supports the hypotheses and indicates that the value of structural social capital is conditional on both curvilinear and linear moderating effects of relational social capital: the moderating effects of business ties on the structural social capital–buyer performance relationship is inverted U-shaped, while the moderating effects of relational social capital at the dyadic level and political ties on the structural social capital–buyer performance relationship is positive.

Research Implications: This study incorporates all three dimensions of social capital, represents one of the first attempts to examine the interplay between structural and relational social capital in emerging economies, explores relational social capital at the dyadic and network levels simultaneously, and responses to the fact that buyer–supplier relationships (BSRs) are embedded within a larger context of social networks. By addressing these issues, this study sheds new light on the individual and joint impact of various dimensions of social capital and provides new evidence on both the positive and negative aspects of social capital in a single model.

Practical Implications: The results provide important implications for managers in addressing social capital in an emerging economy. In order to improve performance, managers should first encourage and foster frequent, diverse, scarce, and high-quality information exchange and interactions to accumulate structural social capital. Additionally, managers should not only emphasize relational social capital building and development in BSRs, but also pay attention to the cultivation of relational social capital among the business network. They should acknowledge the persistent positive effect of political ties and the potential negative effect of business ties.

Originality/Value/Contribution: First, few studies examine both the individual and synergetic effects of various dimensions of social capital in a single model or explicitly explore relational social capital in a dyadic relationship and deeply consider it at the network level in a single model. This study addresses these issues.     

A Snap Shot of E-Commerce by General Line Industrial Distributors

Abstract

Industrial distributors and manufacturers are constantly in search of methods to increase sales and market share. While e-commerce is not new, its adoption is growing and gaining a foothold in American business. Most attention in the e-commerce realm has been on business-to-consumer-type ventures (Amazon, eBay, etc.); however it is the purpose of this paper to examine how e-commerce is effecting business-to-business transactions, specifically in fields relating to industrial distributors and industrial manufacturers.     

The role of the U.S. medical complex and the media in value transformation: The case of viable organ transplant

This paper examines the unintended consequences of marketing a specific technology— viable organ transplantation. A content analysis of print media is conducted to compare accounts of the world's first heart transplant (1967) with accounts of subsequent local transplants in a southwestern city. Results of this analysis suggest that “objective” coverage of transplant incidents convey changes in the construction of the self the authors associate with the interdependence of culture, technology, and marketing practice.     

E-Commerce and Application Service Providers in the Promotional Products Industry

Abstract

Whether we want to face it or not, the Internet will play a major role in the future of our industry. The nature of the supplier, distributor, and customer relationship is changing rapidly due to the emergence of the New Economy spurred by rapid technological development. Connections and information are no longer scarce resources. Service becomes the key as a new type of middleman evolves-infomediaries whose ability to provide useful and timely information will become a core competency for the 21st century in the same way manufacturing was in the 20th. This “Network Effect” is in turn causing the rapid emergence of a completely new type of Internet business-the application service provider. The ASP model not only provides the promotional products industry with the software to allow customers to buy from a particular web location, it also supplies a stream of information both into and out of each affiliate's site.     

The Effects of Relationalism and Supplier Replaceability on Industrial Distribution Channel Outcomes

This research investigates the effects of relational exchange on the channel outcomes of supplier product line growth and relationship durability. The effects of general proclivity for relational exchange and supplier replaceability on relationship durability are also investigated. Using a sample of industrial equipment distributors, a structural equations model demonstrates that relationalism enhances growth, proclivity for relational exchange enhances relationship durability, and supplier replaceability decreases relationship durability. The data revealed no relationship between rationalism and durability or growth and relationship durability.     

Avoiding Over-Reliance on a Single Large Customer: The Impact of Technical Capability,Product Development and Alternative Key Customers

ABSTRACT

This study examines three investments that component suppliers can make to circumvent their large customers' ability to achieve significant power advantages. A large scale survey of component suppliers was conducted approximately 12 to 24 months after Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) began flexing their increased purchasing power to demand price reductions and costly design services. The results show that suppliers' technical capability, suppliers' efforts to develop segment-focused products, and supplier investments to build relationships with alternative key customers lessened their large customers'power advantage. The urgency of balancing relationships with large OEMs is illustrated with the finding that customers'power advantage has a strong negative influence on the suppliers'forecast ofc their own performance. In contrast, no relationship between forecasted performance and the level of interdependence between large OEMs and their suppliers was found. The rapid increase of customer power across a broad range of industries has placed many companies in situations similar to the component suppliers investigated in this study. Thus, the outcomes of these suppliers'investments should be of interest to a large audience of managers. The theory used to frame and examine this important managerial situation provides a vantage point that complements the work done by other researchers.     

Team behavioral integration links team interdependence with team performance: an empirical investigation in R&D teams

Drawing on the input–mediator (a blend of team process and emergent state)–output (IMO) framework, we develop a conceptual model in which team behavioral integration is conceived of as a team-level mediator that links team interdependence (input) with team performance (output). Using a three-wave research design, we test the hypothesized model with the data of 102 R&D teams from three information technology companies in China. Results indicate that team interdependence positively influences team behavioral integration, and that team behavioral integration positively affects team performance. In addition, team behavioral integration is found to mediate the relationship between team interdependence and team performance. The theoretical and managerial implications of these results are discussed.