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BR>Relationshipvalue and quality
311
Received January 2004
Revised June 2004
Accepted December 2004
European Journal of Marketing
Vol. 40 No. 3/4, 2006
pp. 311-327
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0309-0566
DOI 10.1108/03090560610648075
Introduction
Over the last few decades, business-to-business relationships have emerged as a
significant area of managerial practice and academic inquiry. From a managerial
perspective, manufacturers in many business markets witness a strong trend towards
closer relationships with selected key suppliers. In many industries, customers have
significantly reduced their supply base recently. Especially for key components, sole
supplier or dual supplier relationships have become the norm rather than an exception.
Along with this trend, customers have invested in supplier performance evaluation
tools and supplier development programs. Indeed, customers need to understand howto build and manage a portfolio of supplier relationships to increase overall return onrelationships (Gummesson, 2002; Johnson and Selnes, 2004).Many suppliers, in turn, face a growing trend towards commoditisation of products(Rangan and Bowman, 1992) and search for new ways of differentiating themselvesthrough improved customer interactions (Vandenbosch and Dawar, 2002). As aconsequence, suppliers also need to understand how they can create and deliver valuein business-to-business relationships beyond merely selling products. Given the strongoverall trend towards reduced supply bases, the challenge of moving into a main
supplier position – and to defend this top position against alternative suppliers –becomes a question of utmost relevance to industrial vendors.
From an academic perspective, there is a rich and growing body ofresearch
focusing on buyer-supplier relationships in business markets (Ulaga, 2001).
Researchers have provided many insights into the nature and mechanisms of
buyer-supplier relationships and developed conceptual frameworks and integrated
models of business-to-business interactions (Dwyer et al., 1987; Wilson, 1995).
Scholars have also investigated a wide variety of relationship-relevant characteristics
(Cannon and Perreault, 1999; Hewett et al., 2002). Across multiple studies,
commitment and trust are consistently identified as focal constructs of relationship
marketing (Anderson and Weitz, 1992; Doney and Cannon, 1997; Moorman et al.,
1993; Morgan and Hunt, 1994). More broadly, researchers have coined the term“relationship quality” to describe business relationships. Although definitions varyslightly across study contexts, relationship quality is typically assessed throughsome combination of commitment, satisfaction and trust (Crosby et al., 1990; Dorschet al., 1998; Hewett et al., 2002).
A comparison of standard business practices and relationship marketing
frameworks suggests that established models of buyer-sellerrelationships mightinsufficiently reflect managerial emphasis on supplier performance evaluation.Indeed, business customers monitor supplier relationships periodically to tracksupplier performance over time. Supplierperformance evaluation tools are welldiscussed in the business marketing literature (see, for example, Hutt and Speh, 2001)
and the purchasing and supply chain literature (Monczka et al., 2002). Typically,
these widely used tools trade-off the benefits and costs incurred in a purchasing