This study had two main objectives. First, to identify and operationalize the key variables required to assess the strategic alignment of Inter-Organizational Information Systems (IOISs) in the context of dyadic relationships between manufacturers and suppliers. Second, to use a subset of these variables to test two alignment perspectives: fit as moderation and fit as gestalt. More precisely, four key dimensions tied to the study of IOISs alignment in the context of interorganizational relationship (relationship structure, antecedents, outcomes and IOISs usage) and the twenty-five variables that characterize them were identified. Results, from the gestalt and moderation alignment perspective's test show that when aligned together, joint actions (relationship structure), idiosyncratic investments (antecedents), diversity (IOISs usage) and internal integration (IOISs usage) become adequate predictors of the manufacturers' operational performance (outcomes). Thus, demonstrating the primordial role of IOISs alignment in manufacturer-supplier relationship and supporting the contingency theory and its underlying concept of fit.

Η φαρμακευτική αγορά αποτελεί έναν κρίσιμο τομέα της οικονομίας και της κοινωνίας εν γένει, αφού το συναλλακτικό προϊόν της το φάρμακο, αποτελεί κοινωνικό αγαθό. Σχεδόν εδώ και έναν αιώνα η κύρια πηγή ενημέρωσης των γιατρών για τα φάρμακα ήταν και είναι οι ιατρικοί επισκέπτες. Η σχέση μεταξύ γιατρού και ιατρικού επισκέπτη είναι ιδιαίτερα πολύπλοκη και δεν περιορίζεται ως αυστηρά επαγγελματική, αλλά έχει και κοινωνικές προεκτάσεις. Βέβαια ο γιατρός έχει την επιρροή (δύναμη στη λήψη αποφάσεων), η οποία βασίζεται στην θέση και την επιστημονική του αυθεντία (κανονιστική δύναμη-normative power). Σε ένα τέτοιο πλαίσιο λήψεως αποφάσεων, οι σχέσεις ιατρών-φαρμακευτικής βιομηχανίας θα περιμέναμε να είναι μάλλον ασύμμετρες, ή μη ισορροπημένες. Με αυτή την έννοια, κάποιος θα περίμενε ότι οι σχέσεις γιατρών και ιατρικών επισκεπτών θα ήσαν περισσότερο διακριτές, χωρίς έρεισμα για ανάπτυξη μακροχρόνιων δεσμών. Από τη άλλη πλευρά, οι γιατροί χρειάζονται τις νέες γνώσεις των φαρμακευτικών εταιρειών, όπως αυτές εξελίσσονται μέσα από την διαρκή κλινική και εργαστηριακή έρευνα. Έτσι η διαδικασία στη λήψη αποφάσεων είναι πολύπλοκη- μη δομημένη σε μεγάλο βαθμό, οπότε και χρειάζεται πλούσια και άμεση διαπροσωπική επικοινωνία. Για παράδειγμα, το φαρμακευτικό προϊόν έχει μη άμεσα απτές ιδιότητες (intangible), διότι την δράση του (απόδοσή του) δεν μπορούμε να τη γνωρίζουμε, αν ο ασθενής δεν το καταναλώσει. Επομένως, ο γιατρός θα πρέπει να αναπτύξει εμπιστοσύνη σε κάποιες παραμέτρους κατά περίπτωση (π.χ. όνομα φαρμάκου, κλινικές μελέτες, αξιοπιστία ιατρικού επισκέπτη, κλπ), που πάντως καθιστούν την διαδικασία λήψης απόφασης αρκετά πολύπλοκη. Την ίδια στιγμή, οι φαρμακευτικές εταιρείες προσπαθούν να ασκούν και τον ρόλο ενός εμπειρογνώμονα, ασκώντας επιρροή γνώσης (referent power) κάνοντας έτσι την σχέση μεταξύ των παραπάνω δρώντων πιο ισόρροπη και συμμετρική. Παρόλο το αυξημένο ενδιαφέρον που υπάρχει στην υπάρχουσα φαρμακευτική αγορά και τις μεμονωμένες μελέτες, απ’ όσο γνωρίζουμε μέχρι σήμερα, δεν έχει εμφανισθεί ένα ολοκληρωμένο μοντέλο, που να εξετάζει συνολικά τις σχέσεις μεταξύ ιατρών και των αντιπροσώπων των φαρμακευτικών εταιριών (των ιατρικών επισκεπτών). Σκοπός της παρούσας ποσοτικής μελέτης είναι να καλύψει σε ένα βαθμό αυτό το κενό στην υπάρχουσα βιβλιογραφία. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, ο σκοπός της παρούσας διατριβής συνίσταται στην μορφοποίηση ενός θεωρητικού μοντέλου ανάπτυξης μακροχρονίων σχέσεων μεταξύ γιατρών και ιατρικών επισκεπτών, που περιλαμβάνει αφ’ ενός μεν, ως ανεξάρτητες μεταβλητές τις επικοινωνιακές ικανότητες και ικανότητες ανάπτυξης σχέσεων εκ μέρους των ιατρικών επισκεπτών, αφ’ ετέρου δε, ως εξαρτημένες μεταβλητές μακροχρονίων σχέσεων, την εμπιστοσύνη και την δέσμευση των ιατρών και ως εξαρτημένες μεταβλητές αποτελεσματικότητας, την απόδοση των ιατρικών επισκεπτών και την ικανοποίηση των ιατρών. Το μοντέλο, επίσης, εξετάζει την ικανότητα περιβαλλοντικών μεταβλητών όπως είναι η αβεβαιότητα, ο δυναμισμός και η ένταση του ανταγωνισμού, της σύγκρουσης μεταξύ ιατρών-ιατρικών επισκεπτών, καθώς και των ψυχογραφικών χαρακτηριστικών των ιατρών, να παίξουν τον ρόλο των επιδρώντων παραγόντων (contingency factors) στις σχέσεις μεταξύ των ανεξάρτητων και εξηρτημένων μεταβλητών. Εκτός των άλλων, η έρευνα ειδικότερα επιχειρεί να αποτυπώσει και την εικόνα της ελληνικής φαρμακευτικής αγοράς, θεωρούμενης ως δυνητικό πλαίσιο ανάπτυξης σχέσεων γιατρών-ιατρικών επισκεπτών. Η μορφοποίηση του θεωρητικού μοντέλου βασίσθηκε στην υπάρχουσα βιβλιογραφία και αρθρογραφία που αντλήσαμε από τα επιστημονικά πεδία του μάρκετινγκ επιχειρήσεων (business-to-business marketing), του σχεσιακού μάρκετινγκ (relationship marketing), του φαρμακευτικού μάρκετινγκ, καθώς και της επιχειρηματικής ψυχολογίας. Επίσης βασίσθηκε σε πρωτογενή στοιχεία, με συνεντεύξεις από αντιπροσωπευτικούς συμμετέχοντες (key-informants), που αφορούσε κυρίως την προσαρμογή κλιμάκων μέτρησης στο περιβάλλον της έρευνάς μας. Τόσο η δειγματοληψία, όσο και οι στατιστικές αναλύσεις που χρησιμοποιήθηκαν, βασίσθηκαν στην σχετική επιστημονική βιβλιογραφία και αρθρογραφία. Το μοντέλο μας ελέχθηκε με μια σειρά αναλύσεων συσχέτισης, παλινδρομήσεων, t-test και ανάλυσης δομικών εξισώσεων (structural equation modeling), όλες βασισμένες σε αθροιστικές μεταβλητές (παράγοντες), οι οποίες είχαν προηγουμένως ελεχθεί ως προς την αντιπροσωπευτικότητα, αξιοπιστία και εγκυρότητά τους. Συμπερασματικά, όπως φάνηκε από τις αναλύσεις παλινδρόμησης, οι επικοινωνιακές ικανότητες και οι ικανότητες ανάπτυξης σχέσεων του ιατρικού επισκέπτη έχουν αρκετές στατιστικά σημαντικές συσχετίσεις με τις εξηρτημένες μεταβλητές του μοντέλου μας, την ανάπτυξη εμπιστοσύνης και δέσμευση του γιατρού, και στη συνέχεια με την αποτελεσματικότητα του ιατρικού επισκέπτη, επαληθεύοντας έτσι, τις περισσότερες από τις υποθέσεις της έρευνας. Επίσης, οι στατιστικοί δείκτες κατέδειξαν ότι το μοντέλο δομικών εξισώσεων που χρησιμοποιήσαμε συνολικά είναι δυνατό (έχει στατιστική σημαντικότητα). Ωστόσο, σύμφωνα με τα ευρήματα, φαίνεται να είναι διακριτός ο τρόπος ανάπτυξης σχέσεων των γιατρών με τους ιατρικούς επισκέπτες σε δύο επίπεδα, στο κοινωνικό και στο επαγγελματικό. Έτσι, εξαιρετικά ανεπτυγμένες προσωπικές σχέσεις με έναν γιατρό δεν συνεπάγονται αυτόματα και την συνταγογράφηση του φαρμάκου που εκπροσωπεί το ιατρικός επισκέπτης, από τον συγκεκριμένο γιατρό. Όσον αφορά την ανάλυση των ψυχογραφικών χαρακτηριστικών των γιατρών, προέκυψαν δύο ομάδες, οι αλτρουιστές και οι πραγματιστές. Από την συσχέτιση μεταξύ των δύο αυτών ομάδων με τις μεταβλητές της έρευνας φαίνεται ότι οι πραγματιστές εστιάζουν το ενδιαφέρον τους στην ανάπτυξη εμπιστοσύνης με τον ιατρικό επισκέπτη και στον τρόπο που αυτός ανταποκρίνεται στα αιτήματά τους. Από την άλλη πλευρά, οι αλτρουιστές φαίνεται ότι είναι στραμμένοι περισσότερο και προς την γενικότερη ανάπτυξη σχέσεων και την απόκτηση πληροφόρησης γύρω από τα φάρμακα, για αυτό και φαίνεται να δίνουν μεγάλη σημασία στην ικανοποίηση από την επικοινωνία. Αναφορικά με τους παράγοντες επιρροής (contingency factors) του περιβάλλοντος, παρατηρούμε ότι υψηλός ανταγωνισμός, υψηλός δυναμισμός (μεταβλητικότητα της τεχνολογίας) και υψηλή αβεβαιότητα επηρεάζουν τις σχέσεις μεταξύ των ανεξάρτητων και εξηρτημένων μεταβλητών. Το περιβάλλον είναι εκείνο μέσα στο οποίο λειτουργεί η σχέση και, όπως φαίνεται, επηρεάζει τις συνιστώσες της. Ομοίως, η σύγκρουση μεταξύ γιατρού-ιατρικού επισκέπτη, καθώς και η προσωπικότητα του γιατρού φαίνεται ότι επηρεάζουν τις υπό εξέταση σχέσεις της μελέτης μας. Tα συμπεράσματα οδηγούν σε ορισμένες επιπτώσεις και προτάσεις για τα στελέχη των φαρμακευτικών εταιρειών καθώς και σε προτάσεις για περαιτέρω έρευνα. / The pharmaceutical market is a key asset of the economy and the society in general, since drugs, its transaction products, are public goods. For almost a century, the main source of information for doctors, about medicines, are pharmaceutical representatives. The relationship between a physician and a pharmaceutical representative is particularly complicated, and it is not stringent professional but has also social implications. Of course, the doctor has the power in decision making, which is based on position and scientific authority (normative power). In such decision making context, relations between doctors and pharmaceutical industry would be expected to be rather asymmetrical, or unbalanced. In this sense, one would expect that the relationships of doctors and pharmaceutical representatives would be more distinct, without the basis for developing long term bonds. On the other hand, doctors need new scientific data, as knowledge progresses through the ongoing clinical and laboratory research of the pharmaceutical companies. So the decision-making process is complex, greatly unstructured, and requires frequent face to face communication. For example, medicines do not have directly tangible properties, because we cannot know the action (performance) of any medicine, if the patient does not consume it first. Therefore, the physician should initialliy develop confidence in some parameters of the drug as appropriate (e.g. brand name of the drug, clinical trials, pharmaceutical representative reliability, etc.), which, however, makes the decision process very complicated. At the same time, pharmaceutical companies are trying to perform the role of an expert, exerting influence knowledge (referent power) thus making the relationship between these actors more balanced and symmetrical. Despite the increased interest in the pharmaceutical market and the individual studies that exist to date, there has not emerged, to our knowledge, an integrated model that comprehensively address the relationships between doctors and representatives of pharmaceutical companies. The purpose of this quantitative study is to cater to a certain extent this gap in the existing literature. More specifically, the purpose of this study is to formulate a theoretical model for developing long-term relationships between doctors and pharmaceutical representatives, which includes on one hand, as independent variables communication skills and relationship development skills by pharmaceutical representatives, and on the other hand as dependent variables of longterm relationships, trust and commitment of doctors and dependent variables of effectiveness, the performance of pharmaceutical representatives and satisfaction of physicians. The model also examines the ability of a.) environmental variables such as uncertainty, dynamism and intensity of competition, b.) conflict between doctors and pharmaceutical representatives, and c.) psychographic characteristics of physicians, playing the role of contingency factors in relationships between independent and dependent variables. Among other things, the research specifically seeks to capture the image of the Greek pharmaceutical market, viewed as a potential framework for developing relations between doctors and pharmaceutical representatives. In conclusion, as shown by the regression analysis, communication skills and relationship skills development of the pharmaceutical representative have several statistically significant correlations with the dependent variables of our model, trust and commitment of the doctor, and the effectiveness of the pharmaceutical representative, confirming thus, most of the hypotheses of the research. Also, statistical indicators show that the structural equation model is overall possible (is statistically significant). However, according to the findings it appears that doctors are developing relationships with pharmaceutical representatives in two distinct levels, social and professional. So highly developed personal relationships with one doctor, does not automatically imply prescribing the drug, the pharmaceutical representative promotes, from the individual physician. Regarding the analysis of psychographic characteristics of the physicians, emerged two groups, altruists and pragmatists. From the correlation between these two groups with the variables of the survey it seems that pragmatists focus their interest on developing trust with the pharmaceutical representative and on his responsiveness. On the other hand, altruists seem to be mainly facing towards overall development of relationships, the acquisition of information about medicines, and to give great importance to the satisfaction from communication. With respect to contingency factors, as far as environment is concerned, we observe that high competition, high dynamism (variability technology) and high uncertainty affect the relations between the independent and dependent variables. The environment is the one in which the relationship operates and as it is shown affects its components. Similarly, conflict between doctor and pharmaceutical representative, and doctor's personality appear to influence ongoing relationships of our study. These conclusions lead to some implications and suggestions for managers of pharmaceutical companies as well as suggestions for further research.

This study provides an understanding on how Relationship Quality is conceptualised in business-to-business marketing relationships. It investigates the relationships of Jordanian Banks with their small and medium sized enterprise (SMEs) customers in terms of Commitment, Satisfaction, Trust, Communication, Transparency, Understanding, and Cooperation. It examines the antecedents and outcomes of the quality of corporate customer relationships by developing a conceptual model which empirically tests this relationship. This research builds and validates a research model based on the literature survey and uses a mixed methods approach. Qualitative data were gathered through in-depth interviews to achieve the goal of refining the initial research model. The second stage is a quantitative empirical study that uses a questionnaire and tests the empirical model generated in the first stage. This integration of methods provides a more complete view of this emerging area of marketing theory. Using Structural Equation Modelling; research findings support the use of a secondorder relationship quality construct consisting of Trust, Commitment, and Satisfaction as a direct outcome of a relationship and is named 'Attitudinal Loyalty'. Antecedents including; Transparency, Communication, Understanding and Cooperation were found to have a positive impact on relational outcome in a business-to-business context in Jordan. The importance of Transparency emerged as one of the most significant determinants of Relationship Quality, which is considered to be a new finding and not common among previous studies. Communication appears to make the biggest contribution overall and have direct and indirect relationships with other variables. It is therefore a major source of success in a business relationship. This research has several implications for the theory and practice. An important issue is the affects on change management. It requires the establishment of business communications to strengthen existing relationships and to form new ones. This implies developing an interactive approach with other parties. This study gives the banking industry an insight for developing their marketing strategy. It also provides a tool to assess the portfolio of relationships, which helps in targeting specific customers. Furthermore, Transparency in the flow of information imposes cultural change. Studying the Jordanian market can help to provide an insight into an emerging economy. Several qualitative findings showed that the relationship between banks and their small and medium enterprises is interesting. All this enriches and adds to the originality of this work and contributes to existing theory by investigating how relationships between partners can be enhanced.

This dissertation is structured around three original studies that offer unique insights into the challenges of change in business-to-business markets. All three studies share as an important starting point that firms rely on other firms to achieve strategic flexibility in volatile business environments. This means that firms source critical resources from business relationships in order to reduce long-term investments in times of change. From this perspective, firms' competitive advantages cross the boundaries of the firm and are embedded in their business partner networks. Thus, firms' business relationships and networks have become an important locus of organizational change in order to respond to turbulence in firms' business environments. Study one of this dissertation recognizes the importance of supplier relationships as a mechanism to react to changing business environments. The article focuses on the dynamic capabilities that enable firms to structurally reconfigure their supplier portfolios or supply networks in order to access necessary resources. The framework of relationship management capabilities introduced, is structured around three important sub-dimensions: relationship initiation, development, and ending capabilities, which collectively enable a firm to manage the reconfiguration of resource portfolios accessed via supplier relationships. The key implication for management relates to thinking beyond firms' established supply chains in times of change. While to a certain degree change can be absorbed within firms' existing supply chains, there might be a need to be 'agile', i.e. search for other suppliers who are better suited to more efficiently and effectively address such changes affecting firm competitiveness in the long run. While study one highlights the importance of firms' agility in adapting their supply chains in response to changes in their business environment, study two of this dissertation, although with a focus on the demand side of the business model, addresses the managerial challenges associated with such an agile adaptation process. Study two conceptualizes a framework for business model change and provides managers guidance to approach business model redesign. In particular, study two focuses on service business models and introduces the concepts of service infusion and defusion as important processes of business model redesign. The service infusion and defusion framework provides a pragmatic and systematic approach to understanding the nature of the business model change that companies have to manage, as well as linking these changes with knowledge creation and transfer processes. These are shown to be key for successfully managing such a business model redesign. While studies one and two assume strategy and its implementation to be key to a successful response to changes in firms' business environment, study three draws attention to the difficulties of arriving at such an appropriate or fitting response strategy in the first place, given the available information. In particular, this study examines the link between sensing changes in firms' business environments and managerial decision making in the form of strategy choice. Thereby, the study shows that strategy change causes disruptions, which eventually affect firm performance. This effect is compounded with increasing sensitivity to change as well as increasing number of factors that trigger change, and thus impairs the long term benefits of such strategy change. Thus, the effectiveness of strategy or business model changes and their implementation is inevitably contingent on distinguishing key signals from noise that disturb or misguide firms' strategic decisions.

It is a well-established view that, over time, companies in a business-to-business setting develop long-lasting business relationships. The business relationship between two companies involves a wide range of exchanges on products, technical and economic issues. It also has a social content as it engages people in both companies. Business relationships are, therefore, argued to be founded on a varying extent of exchanges and content of behaviour. This thesis deals with the current and complex issue of the integration of information technology in such business relationships. Integration in this thesis refers to when information technology is purposefully used and inseparable from the business relationship. A special standardized questionnaire was used to collect extensive empirical data on 353 business relationships between suppliers and one of their important customers. The results of the analysis of the data in the thesis show that high information technology integration, in terms of exchanges and behaviour, increases the efficiency of information exchanges in business relationships. Integration is also connected to the importance of business relationships for the development of information technology and increases a company’s knowledge on this technology. Furthermore, the results show that what is fundamental for the integration of information technology is its combination with the strength of the business relationship. Thereby, the integration of information technology has a wider impact on business relationships than simply facilitating higher efficiency under certain circumstances. It affects the general competence in using information technology, and allows new opportunities for the business relationship and the companies. Through its rich empirical content, theoretical approach and proximity to current business situations, this thesis is of interest to researchers and students who wish to understand the employment of information technology in business relationships, or for business professionals who want to further understand their situation regarding information technology in order to make decisions about further employment.

In recent times the Russian market has been exposed to significant changes, both in the challenges of the transition from planned to market economy as well as the opportunities that has spurred a willingness for foreign companies to exploit the vast potential of the market. The aim of this thesis is to explore how business relationships are managed between Swedish business-to-business(B2B) SMEs and Russian counterparts. In our study we overview Swedish companies which are well established on the Russian market and have well-developed relationships with their representatives in Russia and try to discover which aspects of their relations is decisive for the success of the companies. To conduct our research we created reseach questions "What role do business relationships play between Swedish and Russian SMEs in the Russian market?, and how are the business relationships managed?". We collected data from both Swedish and Russian perspectives to determine the main features of their relations and draw up guidance for potential Western newcomers to Russia.

Research comparing public-private services outsourcing applying a longitudinal approach including the production/delivery processes (life after purchase) in services sourcing contexts is scarce. In addition, prior studies on service sourcing tend be under conceptualized. To address the above this licentiate thesis presents the results of a comparative and grounded theory inspired case study of two major Swedish FM services outsourcing projects, a public and a private case of operational partnering. Client-provider interaction processes on management level have been followed regularly over time utilizing participant observation as a core element combined with interviews and documentary studies. Observed variations in relational orientation over time, are problematized and discussed. A substantive theory – Business streamlining - of Facility Management outsourcing processes, including the seldom-researched life after purchase processes, is outlined and contextualized. It is argued that existing relational classifications, such as operational partnering, do not capture the life after purchase dynamics of the studied relationships. Business streamlining rests on four main categories, which have major influence on how Facility Management relationships evolve over time. / <p>Lic.-avh. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2014</p>

Purpose: The aim of the study is to explore how the digitalization has affected international business relations, with a focus on Swedish and Chinese relationships. This will be studied through a qualitative study of Swedish SMEs with Chinese partners within the manufacturing industry, but also through interviews with Business Sweden and Swedish Chamber of Commerce for an objective approach. Research Questions: The main research question is: How does digitalization affect Swedish SMEs business relations with Chinese partners in the manufacturing industry? The subquestion is: Which positive and negative aspects does the digitalization bring? Methodology: This thesis is a qualitative study conducted with an abductive approach. A multi-case study design was applied, researching four Swedish SMEs and two objective organizations. Conclusions: After accomplishing this research, we were able to draw the conclusion that Swedish SMEs with Chinese business partners are affected by the digitalization on many levels. Areas mainly affected by the digital development are the communication methods and work tasks. The positive outcomes are opportunities to save money and time, as well as maintaining frequent communication which can increase trustworthiness. The negative outcomes are the decreased personal interactions and the risk of sharing sensitive information, because of the fact that information is stored on digital devices.

Good business relations can contribute to the success of IT-outsourcing, and create new business opportunities. Despite a sharply increasing trend to outsource IT-operations there is a high degree of failures related. The cause may be that some important factors have not been taken into account. The purpose is to investigate elationships within IT-outsourcing and test if specific factors identified by previous research are being concerned in IT-outsourcing relationships and also to investigate the view IT-outsourcing customers and suppliers have on business.  Research shows that business relationships are widespread throughout companies. It demonstrated that a small number of business relationships can have a major impact on a company's financial performance and may create stability. Business relationships can be divided into an arm's length relationships and strategic alliances depending on the degree of involvement. IT is now the most common activity companies choose to outsource and the objectives are mainly related to costs but IT-outsourcing projects can also create strategic opportunities. IToutsourcing consists mainly of three components, supplier, customer and project. For an IT-outsourcing relationship to be successful there is some factors that should be carefully treated. These may include communication, commitment, choice of supplier and cultural similarities. Implementation of the study consists of previous research which is compared with a total of five interviewed companies. All the respondents have been informed about the study's purpose and which role their organization will have. Earlier theoretical sources have been carefully considered and critically examined by contemporary standards, tend criticism, depending criticism and authenticity. The study shows that the perception that respondents have been of business relationships is that they think it has a major role in IT-outsourcing projects. They also have a good knowledge of the factors that previous research claims has a strong influence on IT-outsourcing projects. These factors are: equal cultures / values, the choice of supplier, trust, commitment, contract / SLA management, communication, reciprocity / joint targets and responsible individual’s role. An additional factor was identified: proactivity, innovation and development.

This thesis focuses on value co-creating processes in international business relationships, where customers and suppliers have different frames of reference that create a distance, often expressed in terms of uncertainty between the customer and the supplier. This tension between developing cooperative business relationships in order to co-create value versus handling uncertainty, misunderstandings and conflicts based on perceived distance, makes an interesting arena for exploring how the value co creating process is formed in international business relationships. In this thesis, a customer-supplier perspective is used. The thesis rests on reasoning and concepts discussed in the field of marketing, where literature on value co-creation forms the theoretical foundation of the thesis. Three case studies of co-operation between Chinese customers and Swedish suppliers operating in the Chinese automotive industry have been carried out so as to obtain an in depth picture of the value co-creating processes in international business relationships. The main contribution of the thesis is a nuanced phraseology which should prove fruitful when discussing value co-creating processes in international business relationships. The notion of value co creation in interactive processes is further developed by discussing value through a business relationship and value in a business relationship, where value co-creation includes both individual value for customers and suppliers respectively and common value for both parties to share. The concepts of conversation, coordination, collaboration and co-generation capture the process of cocreating value between international customers and suppliers with different frames of reference. The concepts constituting the phraseology can be seen as generally applicable, but the content of the different concepts discussed varies between business actors, across cultures and over time. By discussing the temporal dimension of past, present and future in this thesis, the developed phraseology infer the notion of continuity instead of short term interaction episodes often discussed in other types of valueco-creation frameworks.