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Much attention has been paid to relationships between supplier and buyer finns, especially in the field of product development and in particular in the automotive industry. There has been a growing debate on the need to increase the responsibilities for suppliers and have a win-win relationship with them instead of an adversarial relationship. Research has been extensive, dealing with issues like location of suppliers, just in time, tiering of suppliers, etc., although little attention has been paid to the issue of specifications and contracts which are an important part of the product development process. The specification flow between the buyer and suppliers is necessary in order to obtain the product. Specifications could be validated' with the help of written contracts and thus can be seen as an important part of the contracts. The objective of the study is to understand the role of specifications and contracts in these companies and thus contribute to knowledge and the understanding of practitioners. One automotive OEM located in Europe was used for the case study. One aircraft OEM, also located in Europe, was used for supplementary data collection. In-depth interviews in five first-tier suppliers, and an open ended questionnaire survey (internal and external) have been used to provide complementary perspectives. The research2 is guided by a qualitative inductive approach and is aimed at developing ideas grounded in field observations. Strauss & Corbin's (1990) method for coding qualitative data has been followed in order to model the role of specifications and contracts. Data was gathered through semi-structured interviews with various managers in the OEMs and supplier companies, participant and direct observation, internal documents, and questionnaires. Specifications were identified to have a role in guiding outsourcing decisions, function as a means of communication, help decide the time of involvement of the suppliers, help differentiate suppliers, create visions for suppliers and help provide competitive advantage. Contracts were identified to have a role in reaching agreements for continuing supply and help assist in the validation of specifications.

Healthy buyer-seller relationships are seen as a source of buyers’ satisfaction, commitment and loyalty. However, creating fruitful relationships with buyers is not always simple and straightforward for salespersons, especially when they seek to establish relationships with buyers from different cultures. Given the challenging nature of intercultural interaction, it becomes imperative for salespersons to identify the behaviours that will best suit such relationships. There is much evidence that salespersons frequently adopt acculturation behaviours in order to build relationships with buyers from different cultures, however the study of acculturation behaviours, though not unknown to marketing scholars, has not been well explored in relationship marketing domains. Studies on the impact of acculturation behaviours from the viewpoint of salespersons are particularly non-existent. The present study examines the limited available literature on this subject, and attempts to develop a better understanding of the concept of salespersons’ acculturation behaviours by proposing a model that explains the relationship between salespersons’ acculturation behaviours and buyers’ satisfaction as well as commitment in the banking context. The hypotheses are empirically tested in the present study by using appropriate statistical techniques. Results of the study indicate that the hypothesised model of salespersons’ acculturation behaviours fits the data well. The hypotheses focus on four dimensions of salespersons’ acculturation behaviours: assimilation, separation, integration and marginalisation. All of these dimensions, excluding separation, show an inter-relationship among the variables of the model and are confirmed with the right significance. Separation is not examined closely within the study as by its nature it is itself exclusionary of any form of interaction with buyers. Findings from the study indicate however that integration and assimilation positively affect buyers’ satisfaction, whereas marginalisation is negatively associated with buyers’ satisfaction. The results also reveal that buyers’ satisfaction has a mediation effect on the relationships between assimilation, integration, marginalisation and buyers’ commitment. The model also includes the constructs of interaction intensity, which is positively related to buyers’ satisfaction and buyers’ commitment. This study can be considered as an important step in establishing the linkage between salespersons’ acculturation behaviours and buyers’ satisfaction and commitment. It establishes that salespersons’ acculturation is needed to perform better and create sustainable intercultural interaction.

Healthy buyer-seller relationships are seen as a source of buyers’ satisfaction, commitment and loyalty. However, creating fruitful relationships with buyers is not always simple and straightforward for salespersons, especially when they seek to establish relationships with buyers from different cultures. Given the challenging nature of intercultural interaction, it becomes imperative for salespersons to identify the behaviours that will best suit such relationships. There is much evidence that salespersons frequently adopt acculturation behaviours in order to build relationships with buyers from different cultures, however the study of acculturation behaviours, though not unknown to marketing scholars, has not been well explored in relationship marketing domains. Studies on the impact of acculturation behaviours from the viewpoint of salespersons are particularly non-existent. The present study examines the limited available literature on this subject, and attempts to develop a better understanding of the concept of salespersons’ acculturation behaviours by proposing a model that explains the relationship between salespersons’ acculturation behaviours and buyers’ satisfaction as well as commitment in the banking context. The hypotheses are empirically tested in the present study by using appropriate statistical techniques. Results of the study indicate that the hypothesised model of salespersons’ acculturation behaviours fits the data well. The hypotheses focus on four dimensions of salespersons’ acculturation behaviours: assimilation, separation, integration and marginalisation. All of these dimensions, excluding separation, show an inter-relationship among the variables of the model and are confirmed with the right significance. Separation is not examined closely within the study as by its nature it is itself exclusionary of any form of interaction with buyers. Findings from the study indicate however that integration and assimilation positively affect buyers’ satisfaction, whereas marginalisation is negatively associated with buyers’ satisfaction. The results also reveal that buyers’ satisfaction has a mediation effect on the relationships between assimilation, integration, marginalisation and buyers’ commitment. The model also includes the constructs of interaction intensity, which is positively related to buyers’ satisfaction and buyers’ commitment. This study can be considered as an important step in establishing the linkage between salespersons’ acculturation behaviours and buyers’ satisfaction and commitment. It establishes that salespersons’ acculturation is needed to perform better and create sustainable intercultural interaction.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1970. / Title from title screen (viewed July 2, 2008). Includes bibliographical references. Online version of the print original.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1970. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Having pertinent information is a key to successful and profitable apparel purchasing. Fashion apparel buyers use information sources to obtain information on product characteristics and on vendor reputation. The perceived financial risk of the purchasing activity has been shown to affect ratings of importance of the need for information. Few studies have addressed how fashion apparel buyers evaluate and react to perceived financial risk in their purchasing task. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of high and low perceived risk on U.S. apparel buyers' need for information sources and for information on product characteristics and vendor reputation variables during the apparel purchasing decision making process. Data (N=110) were obtained from a random sampling of apparel buyers listed in the Million Dollar Directory (1995). The questionnaire, administered through a mail survey, contained two scenarios and demographic questions about the buyers and their firms. Based on the scenarios, respondents rated the importance of the need for information sources and for information types. Data were analyzed using matched pair t-tests, analysis of variance with post-hoc tests, multiple regression, and Pearson product moment correlations. Matched pair t-tests showed that the respondents’ importance ratings for the information sources, product characteristics, and vendor reputation variables varied in the two risk scenarios. Analysis of variance results showed that the need for the upper management and another buyer/peer information sources and for information on consumer demand, ability to meet specifications, and delivery reliability were significantly more important than the other listed information sources or types. Multiple regression analysis showed that the ratings of a chance of a financial gain or loss were negatively related to the firms' store type in both scenarios and positively related to the buyers' experience in buying imported apparel in the high perceived risk scenario. In the low risk scenario, the buyers' frequency of being confronted with such a scenario was positively related to their rated chance of a financial loss or gain. Pearson correlations revealed mostly positive correlations between information sources and types of information. The results of this study show that perceived financial risk is an important variable in the apparel purchasing decision making process. Overall, the importance ratings of information sources and types of information are consistent with the findings of related previous studies. / Ph. D.

Online shopping is rapidly expanding across the globe including developing markets. The consumer is under the perception of different types of risks associated with online shopping which may damage him. For that matter, researchers have continuously made efforts to investigate different types of perceived risks to establish and correct for consumer and societal benefits. After review of the research articles, some gaps were observed; 1) previous studies treat buyers and non-buyers in the same way as a single unit and there is no comparison among them, 2) most of the studies are quantitative thus focusing on the measurement of the responses yet there is a lack of qualitative work which may express how these people are affected, 3) there is a lack of documentation of personal bad experiences of online buyers (non-buyers), 4) customer service and complaint handling are not exposed to existential confirmation and research in academic studies, and 5) most of the studies reviewed for this research are based on a ‘special segment’ of students aged 18-34, contributing from 65% to 93% of responses which give biased results. To do the research the theory of Perceived Risks was used as a frame of reference to develop an analysis model with Consumer Behavior Theory in the context for online shopping.This study took on these areas and a Quasi-qualitative approach was used including Quasi-statistics by making a purposeful sample based on convenience and snow-ball techniques to fulfill the purpose of the study. A total of 11 one-on-one interviews were made to conclude seeing saturation level. Study shows that i) buyers and non-buyers are two different units of the population with different but comparable attitudes ii) despite perception of risks, buyers continue to keep shopping online, iii) non-buyers have either a bad subjective experience or have technological problem and they are aged more than 30, iv) the bad experiences of buyers and (currently) non-buyers tell about card hacking, bad product, non-delivery, and theft, v) customer service and complaint handling both, are areas which have poor quality and bad coordination, and vi) a new construct of perceived risks, ‘dream-damage’ is found in the context of online shopping.