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ISBM Pulse: Interfirm relationships

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social comparison

Social Comparison in Retailer–Supplier Relationships: Referent Discrepancy Effects (Lee and Griffith 2019)

While maintaining relationships between different parties proves imperative across business contexts, the task often becomes challenging in the business-to-business (B2B) domain. Perceptions of fairness in retailer-supplier relationships are a key issue in B2B relationships. Due to multiple suppliers often having active relationships with the same retailer, these perceptions can lead to conflicts. Recent research by Lee and Griffith (2019) studied the social comparisons that occurs, and focus on distributive fairness, reference discrepancies, and tie strength.

Business-to-Business E-Negotiations and Influence Tactics (Singh et al. 2020)

Sales negotiation over email exchanges between sellers and buyers (e-negotiation) is increasingly common in B2B sales. The use of influential tactics as textual cues in emails to manage buyers’ attention significantly affects sales outcomes. To test the effectiveness of influential tactics in e-negotiations, the authors of this study analyze seller-buyer emails over a two-year period part of 40 e-negotiations, along with other data sources and a controlled experiment. In an era where remote working is more prevalent than ever, e-negotiations are more important than ever. It underscores the relevance of this research. 

scream

Customer Service in an Uncertain World

The level of trust in the government, organizations, traditional and social media has never been lower. As a result, when interacting with customer service representatives, customers may be emotionally charged. Research in language use in service interactions may help to build customer trust and confidence even in these uncertain times. 

doors

Relationship Governance Dynamics: The Roles of Partner Selection Efforts and Mutual Investments (Wathne et al.) (open access)

Reseller selection efforts are costly, time consuming, and are sometimes questioned as effective governance mechanisms. Nevertheless, reseller selection efforts are justified as they lower suppliers’ ex post transaction costs amd weaken the likelihood of resellers’ possible exploitation of supplier-reseller relationship in the case of supplier’s investments in the relationship, and promote value creation. Analyzing two waves of surveys in a B2B supplier-reseller context, the authors of this study insights on relationship governance dynamics of reseller selection efforts.

missing puzzle piece

Dynamic Governance Matching in Solution Development (Colm, Ordanini, and Bornemann)

B2B firms are increasingly shifting to offer service solutions as competitive and commoditization threats increase. However, much of these shifts to service-oriented offerings have generated mixed results. The authors investigate this problem as a governance problem and highlight that the different phases of solutions development (experimentation, integration, and evolution) expose actors to various governance tensions.

dark clouds

Partnering with Nonprofits to Confront a Crisis (Ballesteros and Gatignon)

The private sector cannot wait and see until the COVID-19 storm is over. They need to act, and be part of the solution. Helping out now may regain the trust that the private sector has lost recently, by demonstrating its ability of mobilizing resources, generating innovations, and scaling them up fast. However, in doing so, firms should consider the unique abilities of the nonprofit sector in times of disaster and crises.