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Drawing on the marketing, strategic management, and supply management literature, this dissertation develops and empirically tests a theoretical model that delineates knowledge sharing and collaboration between competing suppliers in serving a buying organization. Data were collected through the means of a conjoint-decision study and a survey of suppliers in the optics and the automotive industries. One hundred and forty-six executive MBA students participated in the conjoint-decision study, and one hundred and ten companies participated in the survey. Statistical analysis results from both studies show strong empirical support to the theoretical model. This dissertation advances our understanding of the relative impacts of different factors in promoting or constraining knowledge sharing between competing suppliers when they collaborate with each other to create superior value for the customer. This dissertation demonstrates that a focal supplier's transfer of knowledge to its counterpart hinges not solely on the characteristics of the collaboration. More importantly, knowledge sharing between two competing suppliers is related to different facets of the customer's relationship with the focal supplier. In conclusion, this dissertation provides substantial insights into the role and influences of the customer on competing suppliers' knowledge sharing and collaboration, as well as the value of knowledge sharing to the strategic outcomes of the inter-supplier collaboration.

A typical problem with relationship management in a B2B environment is that implementing companies often see the relationship only from their own perspective. In other words, the supplier decides which customer is worth treating as a key customer, without involving the customer in this decision, or vice versa. As a result, even resource-consuming key account customers might move to competitors if they do not value the relationship in the same way as the supplier and see an opportunity to save costs by switching sources. This study develops a better understanding of value in B2B relationships. It investigates the segmentation methods currently used in relationship management and develops a new approach that brings the value perspectives from buyer and seller together. The major contribution of the research, however, is to test the proposition that congruency of the value expectations of buyer and seller will optimize the relationship strength.In the literature there seem two general approaches, the hard and the soft. This research combines these measures to form a single, cohesive measurement of congruency of relationship value, from the perspective of both partners in the relationship. There is a lacuna in the burgeoning literature on relationship management, where trust is often inadequately represented in the research, and where reciprocity of value between relationship partners is often omitted. This research addresses this critical, yet under-researched, issue. It also provides a useful, practical, guide to companies desirous of setting up strong relationships with other organizations by explaining the importance of soft value measures and focusing on shared value expectations in these relationships.The quantitative survey was conducted among buyers and sellers in small and medium sized companies in Germany that are operating on an international level. The empirical results strongly support the research thesis. Implications for theory and practice are provided as well as recommendations for further research.

A typical problem with relationship management in a B2B environment is that implementing companies often see the relationship only from their own perspective. In other words, the supplier decides which customer is worth treating as a key customer, without involving the customer in this decision, or vice versa. As a result, even resource-consuming key account customers might move to competitors if they do not value the relationship in the same way as the supplier and see an opportunity to save costs by switching sources. This study develops a better understanding of value in B2B relationships. It investigates the segmentation methods currently used in relationship management and develops a new approach that brings the value perspectives from buyer and seller together. The major contribution of the research, however, is to test the proposition that congruency of the value expectations of buyer and seller will optimize the relationship strength.In the literature there seem two general approaches, the hard and the soft. This research combines these measures to form a single, cohesive measurement of congruency of relationship value, from the perspective of both partners in the relationship. There is a lacuna in the burgeoning literature on relationship management, where trust is often inadequately represented in the research, and where reciprocity of value between relationship partners is often omitted. This research addresses this critical, yet under-researched, issue. It also provides a useful, practical, guide to companies desirous of setting up strong relationships with other organizations by explaining the importance of soft value measures and focusing on shared value expectations in these relationships.The quantitative survey was conducted among buyers and sellers in small and medium sized companies in Germany that are operating on an international level. The empirical results strongly support the research thesis. Implications for theory and practice are provided as well as recommendations for further research.

No / Purpose - To present a complete and comprehensive model by which business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce transactions for sales and purchases between organisations may be categorised. Design/methodology/approach - Literature from the e-commerce and operations management fields was studied, and the findings were synthesised to develop a preliminary conceptual model of B2B interaction. The conceptual model was tested empirically using a qualitative research procedure involving focus groups. From this, its structure and content were validated and refined. Findings - The research found that the developed model, incorporating nine exclusive e-commerce trading scenarios, covers all B2B selling and purchase transactions, which suggests that it is comprehensive. It further found that trading occurs in each of the nine scenarios within the model, thus suggesting that it is complete. These findings support the conclusion that the model represents a valid taxonomy for the classification of B2B e-commerce transactions. Research limitations/implications - Although the literature findings are international, the empirical study was restricted to the UK. The model has been validated through this research, and now provides a framework by which the mechanisms of B2B trade may be further investigated. Practical implications - The model allows commercial organisations and researchers to recognise and understand the complexity and multiple dimensions of e-commerce use for B2B sales and purchases. It provides a framework onto which individual trading scenarios may be mapped. The framework offers guidance to operations and supply chain managers in organisations as to the most appropriate approach to adopt in particular e-commerce implementation projects and supply chain transactions. Originality/value - This paper furthers knowledge in the areas of e-commerce and operations management by proposing a new model of B2B interaction. This provides a comprehensive means of classifying all available transaction types, the characteristics of these and the likely technology used within them. It offers the ability, systematically, to identify, map and understand all available B2B e-commerce trading mechanisms.

Understanding the determinants of sales success and sales failure has organization wide implications, ranging from an improved salesforce to improved corporate performance. However, a paucity of research on sales failure has resulted in an under-conceptualized field largely built on assumptions. This research proposes to overcome salesforce failure attribution biases by collecting data from the industrial buyer’s perspective. Thirty five post-mortem interviews with procurement decision makers from buying organizations were collected following a failed sales proposal. The context of these failed sales proposals was for multi-year industrial service key account contracts (>$5 Million). The result of this naturalistic inquiry is a model which outlines the determinant attributes of sales failure: price, adaptability and relationship-potential. An experimental design was conducted following this exploratory research in order to test the derived drivers of sales failure and success, as well as provide a trade-off analysis of the three emergent sales proposal themes. Results indicate that a lack of adaptability has the strongest impact on the sales failure outcome variable, as well as buyer characteristics have a potentially moderating impact on the relative trade-off weights between price/adaptability and price/relationship-potential.

Understanding the determinants of sales success and sales failure has organization wide implications, ranging from an improved salesforce to improved corporate performance. However, a paucity of research on sales failure has resulted in an under-conceptualized field largely built on assumptions. This research proposes to overcome salesforce failure attribution biases by collecting data from the industrial buyer’s perspective. Thirty five post-mortem interviews with procurement decision makers from buying organizations were collected following a failed sales proposal. The context of these failed sales proposals was for multi-year industrial service key account contracts (>$5 Million). The result of this naturalistic inquiry is a model which outlines the determinant attributes of sales failure: price, adaptability and relationship-potential. An experimental design was conducted following this exploratory research in order to test the derived drivers of sales failure and success, as well as provide a trade-off analysis of the three emergent sales proposal themes. Results indicate that a lack of adaptability has the strongest impact on the sales failure outcome variable, as well as buyer characteristics have a potentially moderating impact on the relative trade-off weights between price/adaptability and price/relationship-potential.

Understanding the determinants of sales success and sales failure has organization wide implications, ranging from an improved salesforce to improved corporate performance. However, a paucity of research on sales failure has resulted in an under-conceptualized field largely built on assumptions. This research proposes to overcome salesforce failure attribution biases by collecting data from the industrial buyer’s perspective. Thirty five post-mortem interviews with procurement decision makers from buying organizations were collected following a failed sales proposal. The context of these failed sales proposals was for multi-year industrial service key account contracts (>$5 Million). The result of this naturalistic inquiry is a model which outlines the determinant attributes of sales failure: price, adaptability and relationship-potential. An experimental design was conducted following this exploratory research in order to test the derived drivers of sales failure and success, as well as provide a trade-off analysis of the three emergent sales proposal themes. Results indicate that a lack of adaptability has the strongest impact on the sales failure outcome variable, as well as buyer characteristics have a potentially moderating impact on the relative trade-off weights between price/adaptability and price/relationship-potential.

Relationship/collaborative selling, as opposed to traditional, transaction oriented selling, stresses the need to form relationships with prospects and customers across all stages of the buyer-seller relationship (Jolson, 1997). The problem is that applying the relationship selling process to all types of customers may lead to inappropriate interpersonal interaction if the customer's orientation is only short-term in nature (Jackson, 1985a, 1985b). Anderson and Narus (1991) make the point that significant variations within industries (i.e., hotel industry) can exist in the buyer's expectation of working relationships with sellers, from a collaborative relationship desire to a transactional (i.e., discrete) relationship. This study developed and empirically tested a model of international buyer-seller relationships in the hospitality industry. The model analyzed several relationships: 1) the relationship between National Culture (Hofstede, 198oa, 1980b & 1997) and the interpersonal interaction "success" variables (i.e., structural bonding, social bonding, communication content, communication style, and trust) in the buyer-seller relationship (Wilson, 1995); 2) the relationship between the "success" variables and the outcomes of the buyer-seller relationship (i.e., relationship commitment and long-term orientation of the buyer); and 3) the relationship between the level of knowledge of the selling strategy used by the salesperson and the buying preferences of the buyer, as perceived by the salesperson. In addition, each of these relationships was examined in terms of the differences that may exist in base of operation of the salesperson (i.e., North America or Asia). The study specifically focused on the hotel industry salesperson and the relationship he or she has with his or her top account. The cross-cultural differences were captured by use of a sample of salespeople that were based either in North America or Asia. The results of this study showed that the relationship/collaborative selling strategy is not necessarily appropriate for all selling situations, but the salesperson may not be knowledgeable enough of his or her customer's preference for interpersonal interaction to be able to identify that fact. It also indicated that different importance is placed on different "success" variables in the buyer-seller relationship in different bases of operation. Specifically, trust is more important in North America than Asia, but it is still an important factor in both selling environments. It was also concluded that social bonding might be overrated in regards to the top account buyer-seller relationship. The conclusion can be made that more emphasis needs to be placed on the building and maintaining of trust than the need to "build a relationship" through social bonding, at least with the top account. The implications of the study can be applied to the improvement of how sales training is taught on a global basis. / Ph. D.