Importer and exporter capabilities, governance mechanisms, and environmental factors determining customer-perceived relationship value

Dionysis Skarmeas, Athina Zeriti, Paraskevas Argouslidis

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

20 Citations (Scopus)
17 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Although value creation is the overarching goal of interfirm exchange relationships, there is little research on relationship value in business markets in general and in global business markets in particular. The current research draws on the theoretical perspectives of dynamic capabilities, relational contracting, industry structure view, and Uppsala model of internationalization and synthesizes their insights to develop a model of customer-perceived relationship value in importer-exporter relationships. A mail survey was used to collect data from 211 import distributors of industrial products. The study results indicate that exporter core offering and customer responsiveness capabilities, importer market-sensing and customer relationship management capabilities, relational governance, psychic distance, and environmental munificence are important determinants of relationship value, while contractual governance has no detectable effect. Theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are discussed and future research directions are presented.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)158-168
Number of pages11
JournalIndustrial Marketing Management
Volume78
Early online date18 Dec 2017
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2019

Keywords

  • Relationship value
  • core offering
  • customer responsiveness
  • market sensing
  • customer relationship management
  • relational and contractual governance
  • psychic distance
  • environmental munificence
  • importer
  • exporter

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