This study investigated and distinguished between two different aspects of trust (i.e. inter-personal and inter-organisationl) in business relationships. Reviewing the extant literature, a model of business relationships was developed, bridging social exchange theory and transaction cost economics, in addition to using some ideas from the resource-based view. This model was built on an overall framework consisting of three main groups of business relationship characteristics, (1) attitudes (inter-personal and inter-organisational trust) (2) behaviours (commitment, information sharing and relationship-specific investments) and (3) outcomes (financial and non-economic (soft) performance). The overall framework suggested that the attitudinal characteristics affect behavioural characteristics, which consequently affect relationship outcomes. Furthermore, the role of the other party’s opportunistic behaviour as an antecedent of trust aspects was suggested in the model. In line with the overall framework, a basic model was developed with sixteen hypotheses. The model was extended considering dependence as a moderator, and suggesting two additional hypotheses.A questionnaire was designed to measure the characteristics in the model. Data collected from 331 informants (i.e. middle or senior managers knowledgeable about supplier relationships) was used to empirically test the model, using structural equation modeling. The analysis was performed testing the model fit and its underlying hypotheses, additionally using a control variable (the relationship length) and multiple-group analysis (controlling for the size of the company). Inter-personal trust and inter-organisational trust were found to be two distinct constructs (by means of implementing several techniques testing discriminant validity). The results supported the impact of inter-personal trust on inter-organisational trust, inter-personal trust impacting on commitment and information sharing while inter-organisational trust impacting on commitment, information sharing and relationship-specific investments (all in a positive way). The positive effect of behavioural characteristics on relationship outcomes was supported, commitment and relationship-specific investment influencing both financial and non-economic performance, while information sharing influencing non-economic performance. Relationship-specific investments impact positively on commitment, and financial performance impacts positively on non-economic performance. The moderating effects were supported; the positive effect of inter-organisational trust on relationship-specific investments and the positive effect of relationship-specific investments on commitment decrease as dependence increases. The negative effect of the other party’s opportunistic behaviour on trust dimensions was found, while its expected negative effect on relationship-specific investments was not supported in the whole sample. A mixture modeling approach was performed to explore this result. The negative effect was supported in a number of responses, as expected. However, surprisingly a positive effect was also found in a group of responses that were characterised by having relatively longer relationships with the supplier and observing a higher degree of opportunistic behaviour. Additionally relationship-specific investments had a stronger effect on its consequences within this group. Potential explanations for the findings with regard to this group were introduced. The research contributions and implications were also discussed.

Předmětem diplomové práce je průzkum vztahů společnosti IN CAR centrum s.r.o. s jejími velkoobchodními odběrateli. Na základě shromážděných teoretických východisek a analýzy současného stavu společnosti je navržena strategie vedoucí ke zlepšení úrovně poskytovaných služeb a zkvalitnění spolupráce s partnery. Cílem diplomové práce je navrhnout marketingovou strategii pro velkoobchodní činnost, která povede ke zlepšení současné situace a celkovému ozdravení společnosti.

Titel: Affärsrelationen mellan tillverkare och återförsäljare: ur tillverkarens perspektiv Ämne: Kandidatuppsats i företagsekonomi inriktning affärsrelationer, 15 hp Författare: Lisa berg & Linnea Petersson Datum: 2021-05-24 Nivå: Kandidatuppsats Handledare: Svante Andersson Examinator: Klaus Solberg Problemformulering: Hur ser förtroendet ut inom affärsrelationen mellan tillverkare ochåterförsäljare inom den konkurrensutsatta möbel och inredningsbranschen, utifrån tillverkaresperspektiv? Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att belysa och få djupare förståelse kring hur förtroendetser ut mellan tillverkare och återförsäljare inom den skandinaviska möbel ochinredningsbranschen. Förtroende är en av alla byggstenar i samtliga relationer men styrkan itillit och förtroende kan variera över tid. När återförsäljare och tillverkare, som även agerarleverantör är beroende av varandra i en affärsrelation samtidigt som de är konkurrenter kantilliten och förtroendet i relationen bli komplext. Det är denna komplexa delen avaffärsrelationen uppsatsen syftar till att undersöka och även det frågeställningen har sin grund i. Metod: Denna studie är baserad på en kvalitativ forskningsmetod och har en deduktiv ansatsdär teorin samlats in från vetenskapliga artiklar. Empirin är baserad på semistruktureradesamtalsintervjuer med tre olika skandinaviska möbelföretag. Dessa har tillsammans skapat enabduktiv forskningsansats. Slutsats: Slutsatsen konkretiseras genom förklaring om hur förtroendet mellan tillverkare ochåterförsäljare ser ut. Det som förklaras är att tilliten och affärsrelationen är bristande. Denrelation som länge varit i beroendesituation gentemot varandra har börjat försvinna och medförsämrad kommunikation kan den komma att upphöra inom snar framtid. Detta medhänvisning till analys som genomgående kopplar samman den insamlade empirin tillsammansmed jämförelse till tidigare forskning. Nyckelord: Affärsrelationer, tillverkare, återförsäljare, tillit / Titel: The business relationship between manufacturer and retailers: from the manufacturer's perspective Subject: Bachelor's thesis in business administration focusing on business relations, 15 hp Authors: Lisa berg & Linnea Petersson Date: 2021-05-24 Level: Bachelor thesis for a bachelor's degree in business administration with focus onmarketing. Supervisor: Svante Andersson Examiner: Klaus Solberg Question at issue: What does trust look like in the business relationship betweenmanufacturers and retailers in the competitive furniture and interior design industry, from amanufacturer's perspective? Purpose: The purpose of this essay is to shed light on and gain a deeper understanding ofwhat trust looks like between manufacturers and retailers in the Scandinavian furniture andinterior design industry. Trust is one of the building blocks of all relationships, but thestrength of trust and confidence can vary over time. When retailers and manufacturers, whoalso act as suppliers, are dependent on each other in a business relationship at the same timeas they are competitors, trust and confidence in the relationship can become complex. It is thiscomplex part of the business relationship the thesis aims to examine and also what the issue isbased on. Method: This study is based on a qualitative research method and has a deductive approachwhere the theory is collected from scientific articles. Empirin is based on semi-structuredinterviews with three different companies connected to Scandinavian furniture. These formersteps in combination created an abductive research approach. Conclusion: The conclusion is concretized through an explanation of what the trust betweenmanufacturers and resellers looks like. Further explained is that there is more often an existinglack of trust in the business relationship. The relationship that has been not equally dependentis starting to disappear and that in combination with the lack of good communication. Thedependency situation regarding the relation between the actors has started to fade and with thedeteriorated communication the relationship can within a few years be dissolved. This withreference to the analysis that pervading has connected to the collected empiricism withreference to previous research in the subject. Keywords: business relationships, manufacturer, retailers, trust.

This work is devoted to the study of trust in marketing and in the building of successful partnerships. The phenomenon of trust is investigated from the marketing point. As a result, it was given new determination of trust, that is a specific kind of relationship in the framework of marketing and partnerships. The partnership, its conditions and stages of building are studied. Also, there the nature and classifications of trust were determined, criteria for selecting partners and the imperatives of building a trusting partnership were established. It was determined that the trust plays a key role in building and maintaining long-term partnerships in business networks, but is not the sole determinant of its basic construction, it works in the complex along with other factors, building business partnerships. In practical part “Company Hangiry” was examined. The instructions of building trusting relationship were practiced in “Company Hangiry”. / Данная работа посвящена исследованию доверия в маркетинге и в формировании партнерских отношений. Рассмотрен и изучен феномен доверия с позиции маркетинга, в результате чего определено, что доверие представляет собой определенный вид отношений в рамках маркетинга и партнерских отношений. Изучены партнерские отношения, условия их возникновения и этапы формирования. Рассматриваются деловые сети, их сущность и классификации. Также сформулированы критерии выбора партнеров и императивы построения доверительного партнерства. Определено, что доверие играет ключевую роль в построении и поддержании долгосрочных партнерских отношений в бизнес-сетях, но не является единственной основополагающей детерминантой его построения, а работает в комплексе наряду с другими факторами построения бизнес-партнерства. Проанализированы и определены отношения участников предприятия общественного питания ООО «Компания Хангири», условия формирования отношений бизнес-партнерства и процесс их формирования на данном предприятии. Предложена дорожная карта построения доверительного партнерства и апробирована на предприятии ООО «Компания Хангири».

The diploma thesis deals with the use of event marketing in the communications strategy of OBO Bettermann Praha which operates in business-to-business market in electrical engineering. The first part looks into event marketing from a theoretical point of view. The second part firstly introduces the company OBO Bettermann Praha and its marketing communications. Subsequently is the influence of event marketing on the company's business relations with its customers and business partners explored (currently the main pillar are theater evenings). The survey is conducted by online quantitative questioning of event's participants and qualitative in-depth interview with the director of the company. The survey results are evaluated in the final chapter of the thesis.

Abstract This study explores the phenomenon of brand co-creation from a communicative perspective. The study investigates how Finnish SMEs operating in international B2B markets use English as a business lingua franca (BELF) for brand communication. The purpose of the study is to contribute to brand co-creation theory by illustrating how using BELF affects spoken brand co-creation discourse and increase our understanding of brand co-creation communication by applying a discursive approach. The theoretical framework of the study is based on branding literature, BELF research, discourse theory and social constructionism. The study introduces an analytical framework for exploring BELF in spoken brand co-creation communication through the discourse dimensions of verbal language use, the communication of brand meanings and face-to-face social interaction among stakeholders. The empirical data was collected by implementing a business communication simulation designed for the study. It was used to analyse how internal stakeholders use verbal BELF to communicate brand meanings in face-to-face social interaction. A discursive approach was also applied in the analysis. In the study, three spoken brand co-creation discourses were identified: informative, credible and emotional discourse. This study shows that brand co-creation is a phenomenon intertwined with language. When the language of business communication is BELF, it can both enable and impede brand co-creation communication. Efficient and informative communication is often regarded as essential in business communication but from brand communication perspective informative communication may not be sufficient to create an interesting and a memorable brand. The study also shows that spoken brand co-creation communication with BELF requires versatile language and communication competence; especially emotional brand discourse may require more versatile BELF competence than previously has been acknowledged. From a managerial viewpoint, it is important to understand that internal stakeholders are continuously communicating about the brand to external stakeholders with spoken language. Thus, the brand is visible in the daily operations through language, although not necessarily as intended by the management. / Tiivistelmä Tässä väitöskirjassa tutkitaan brändin yhteisluomista yritysviestinnän näkökulmasta. Tutkimuksessa selvitetään, miten suomalaiset yritystenvälisillä markkinoilla (B2B) toimivat pk-yritykset käyttävät liike-englantia lingua francana (BELF) suullisessa yhteisluomisviestinnässään. Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on lisätä ymmärrystä kielen ja viestinnän roolista brändin yhteisluomisessa ja kuvata, miten BELF vaikuttaa puhuttuun brändin yhteisluomisviestintään diskursiivisesta näkökulmasta. Tutkimus nojaa brändikirjallisuuden lisäksi BELF-tutkimukseen, diskurssiteoriaan ja sosiaaliseen konstruktionismiin. Tutkimus esittää brändin suullisen yhteisluomisviestinnän kolmiulotteisena ilmiönä, jota voidaan tarkastella sanallisen kielenkäytön, brändimerkitysten viestimisen ja kasvokkain tapahtuvan, sidosryhmien välisen vuorovaikutuksen avulla. Työn empiirinen aineisto kerättiin tutkimusta varten kehitetyn liikeviestintäsimulaation avulla, ja sen avulla analysoitiin, miten yrityksen sisäiset sidosryhmät käyttävät BELFiä viestimään brändimerkityksiä yrityksistään ja niiden tuotteista sosiaalisessa vuorovaikutuksessa. Tutkimuksessa hahmoteltiin kolme suullista brändin yhteisluomisdiskurssia: informatiivinen diskurssi, uskottavuusdiskurssi ja tunneperäinen diskurssi. Tutkimus osoittaa, että brändin yhteisluomisviestintä on kieleen kietoutunut ilmiö. Kun liikeviestinnän kielenä on BELF, vieraskielinen viestintä voi sekä mahdollistaa että vaikeuttaa brändin yhteisluomisviestintää. Tehokas ja faktaperäinen viestintä on usein tärkeää liikeviestinnässä, mutta brändäyksen näkökulmasta informatiivisesti painottunut viestintä voi olla riittämätöntä, jotta se herättäisi mielenkiintoa brändiä kohtaan tai loisi muistettavan brändin. Tutkimus osoittaa myös, että osallistuminen brändin yhteisluomisviestintään käyttämällä BELFiä edellyttää monipuolista kieli- ja viestintätaitoa. Erityisesti tunteita herättävä brändäysviestintä voi vaatia laajempaa kieli- ja viestintäosaamista kuin aiemmin on ajateltu. Liikkeenjohdon kannalta on tärkeää ymmärtää, että yrityksen henkilöstö viestii brändistä jatkuvasti jokapäiväisessä vuorovaikutuksessa eri sidosryhmien kanssa. Näin ollen brändi välittyy sidosryhmille kielen kautta, mutta ei kuitenkaan välttämättä sellaisena kuin yrityksen johto on tarkoittanut.

Purpose: This study aims to provide a better understanding of the importance of mastering foreign languages in building international business relationships as well as whether English should be considered an interlingua in international negotiations. Theoretical framework: This study ́s theoretical framework consists of the disciplines Business-to-Business (B2B) marketing and psychic distance. In B2B marketing a sustainable business relationship is built on the customer experience which in turn rests the four pillars of trust, integrity, communication, and interdependence. Psychic distance includes the subdisciplines cultural distance, inter-organizational distance, and linguistic distance. Method: This study employs a qualitive research with an abductive approach. The empirical material was collected through semi-structured interviews. The respondents consisted of four employees at Business Sweden, who are working in different markets, and two Swedish export companies in the manufacturing industry. Conclusion: The study shows that the choice of language mainly affects communication and trust between the parties. The perceived integrity is affected more by the parties' socio- pragmatic skills than their linguistic skills. Mutual dependence affects the parties' attitudes towards language choice rather than vice versa. The study also shows that despite the English status as Lingua Franca, misunderstandings can still arise that are based on the communicators' cultural background. / Syfte: Denna studie syftar till att ge ökad förståelse för betydelsen av behärskningen av främmande språk vid skapandet av internationella affärsrelationer samt den funktion som engelskan fyller vid internationella förhandlingar. Teori: Uppsatsens teoretiska referensram utgörs av begreppen Business-to-Business (B2B) marknadsföring och psykiskt avstånd. En hållbar affärsrelation i B2B marknadsföring bygger på kundupplevelsen eller företagens uppfattning av varandra. Denna kundupplevelse bygger i sin tur på fyra grundpelare: förtroende, integritet, kommunikation och ömsesidigt beroende. I psykiskt avstånd ingår kulturellt avstånd, interorganisatoriskt avstånd och språkligt avstånd. Metod: Denna studie är baserad på en kvalitativ med en abduktiv ansats. Det empiriska materialet samlades in via semistrukturerade intervjuer. Respondenterna utgjordes av fyra anställda på Business Sweden, som är placerade på olika marknader, samt två svenska exportbolag inom tillverkningsindustrin. Slutsats: Studien visar på att språkvalet främst påverkar kommunikationen och förtroendet mellan parterna. Den upplevda integriteten påverkas mer av parternas sociopragmatiska kompetenser än deras språkliga kompetenser. Ömsesidigt beroende påverkar parternas attityder gentemot språkvalet snarare än vice versa. Studien visar även på att trots engelskans status som Lingua Franca kan det fortfarande uppstå missförstånd som grundar sig i kommunikatörernas kulturella bakgrund.

Social media usage in the B2B sector is increasing at a slower rate than B2C and the research literature sends a unanimous message; B2B firms would benefit in multiple ways using social media as a tool when establishing and entertaining business relationships. The concept of trust is proved to be of great importance in the construction of these relationships. With guidance of this thesis’ practical contribution,the model The Hourglass of Trust, displaying three categories of trust; creation, maintenance and destruction, this thesis will simultaneously highlight the theoretical contribution: aspects affecting trust, as well as the managerial contribution: aid B2B insocial media strategy planning for improved opportunities to build better business relationships on social media. A key finding and theoretical contribution, is the activity of switching channels from social media to other marketing channels such as email. Some B2B marketers use social media only as a storefront, a one-way promotion tool to create trust in order to reach an audience, create leads, stimulate interest or in the initial contact with another firm and then switch to the usage of other channels like email once the relationship has moved past the trust creation category. This finding is of particular interest since Sweden is a country built upon social trust and has a high social media penetration which may beviewed as counter intuitive when social media is used as a one-way-communication channel such as a storefront. B2B marketers in the empirical findings view social mediain a more positive light than earlier research, stating it is a powerful tool for building long-term business relationships. A second key finding is that personal values are associated with trust creation and trust maintenance in B2B, turning the spotlight from inter-organizational to interpersonal trust. Future research is encouraged to explore the reason for the switching of channels in B2B SMEs in Sweden as well as further explore the concept of trust in a B2B social media context testing the proposed model, The Hourglass of Trust (Fig. 2). / Användande av sociala medier inom B2B-sektorn ökar i lägre takt än inom B2C och forskningslitteraturens bidrag är unisont; B2B-företag skulle gynnas av att använda sociala medier som verktyg på flera sätt när de etablerar och underhåller affärsrelationer. Konceptet förtroende visar sig ha stor betydelse för att bygga affärsrelationer. Med ledning av uppsatsens praktiska bidrag, modellen The Hourglassof Trust (Fig. 2), som illustrerar tre kategorier av förtroende; skapande, underhåll och förstörelse, belyses uppsatsens teoretiska bidrag; aspekter som påverkar förtroende. Aspekterna kan bidra till den strategiska planeringen av B2B-marknadsföring i sociala medier och öka möjligheten att bygga bättre affärsrelationer. Ett huvudfynd och teoretiskt bidrag handlar om hur företag byter kanal från sociala medier till andra marknadsföringskanaler såsom mail. En del B2B-marknadsförare använder sociala medier enbart som ett skyltfönster, ett enkelriktat marknadsföringsverktyg för att skapa förtroende genom att nå ut, skapa leads, stimulera intresse eller endast i den inledande kontakten med ett annat företag för att sedan byta kanal och använda till exempel mail istället när relationen tagit sig förbi kategorinskapande av förtroende. Detta fynd är av särskilt intresse då Sverige som land bygger på socialt förtroende där sociala medier även har ett stort genomslag vilket gör att det kan betraktas som motsägelsefullt då sociala medier används som en kanal för envägskommunikation, likt ett skyltfönster. De empiriska resultaten visar att B2B-marknadsförares attityder är mer positiva till sociala medier än tidigare forskning visat och anser att det är ett kraftfullt kostnadseffektivt verktyg för att bygga långsiktiga i affärsrelationer. Ett andra huvudfynd är att personliga värderingar associeras med att skapa och underhålla förtroende i företagsrelationer, vilket vänder strålkastarljuset från interorganisatoriskt förtroende till interpersonellt förtroende. Vidare forskning uppmuntras att undersöka orsaken till att svenska B2B SMEs byter kanaler samt vidare undersöka B2B-förtroendet på sociala medier med hjälp av Hourglass of trust.

What makes real life contractual arrangements? How does the law influence real life contractual arrangements? These are everyday questions for businesspeople and commercial lawyers. The traditional ‘imperative’ view of law assumes that business people contract ‘in the shadow of the law’ and contractual arrangements conform to what the law says. But empirical studies on contract practice suggest that contract law may, in fact, play a very insignificant role in real life contractual arrangements. This thesis provides a sociological view of the role of contract law in real life contractual arrangements in the context of the Vietnamese market. Specifically, this thesis applies an institutional law & economics approach to investigate how social structures of the market influence contractual arrangements to marginalize contract law in the Vietnamese market. Drawing on two surveys of contract behaviour in the Vietnamese market, this thesis finds that real life contractual arrangements respond to the institutional structure of the market as a whole, rather than only ‘the shadow of the law’. Institutional changes in the Vietnamese market suggest that there exists a merchant law system, constituted of traditional moral norms and social structures in the market. This merchant law system continues to order contractual arrangements in the market, despite the introduction of a transplanted contract law system. Disagreeing with the imperative approach, this thesis claims that contract law reform should conform to the institutional structure of the market to reduce transaction costs of contracting and to provide an effective framework for real life contractual arrangements.