In the highlands of the Northern Philippines, a model of long-term relationships between potato farmers and their preferred seed suppliers is proposed. In the absence of any certified seed system that might provide some guarantee of seed quality, farmers prefer to transact with those seed suppliers with whom they have had some favourable prior experience. Such suppliers provide both the best quality seed and, since most farmers must borrow the capital to purchase the seed, the most favourable terms of repayment. As there is much uncertainty in the exchange, the farmer's relationship with their preferred seed supplier is based on trust. However, since the farmer's satisfaction with the exchange cannot be ascertained until after purchase, trust is antecedent to satisfaction. As satisfaction is derived from the economic benefits the farmer obtains, satisfaction will lead to the farmer's desire to maintain the relationship. Satisfaction is enhanced both by the seed supplier's willingness to extend credit and to provide information. As there is much variation between alternative seed supplier's offer quality, satisfaction will result in the farmer becoming more dependent upon that seed supplier who makes the best offer. Furthermore, having provided the farmer with financial assistance, seed suppliers will find that they have constrained their opportunities to use coercive influence strategies, for in the absence of any formal contract, farmer's may readily default on the loan. The use of coercive influence strategies will reduce both the farmer's trust in their preferred seed supplier and the farmer's desire to maintain the relationship. / While trust is more important in the transitional economies, critical problems emerge with the use of standardised item measures and scales developed in the industrial countries. Cultural specific adjustments are necessary to ensure social constructs such a trust are functionally equivalent. However, in the context of long-term relationships where satisfaction is also cumulative, introducing measures of both economic and social satisfaction have the potential to overlap with the generally accepted measures of trust.

<p>Introduction: Already in the 1970’s, internationalisation was noted as a striking trend in business. Since then, the speed of internationalisation has increased as infrastructure, communication, and IT have decreased space and time barriers for international trade. Today, companies must engage in international activities to survive in the competitive environment and researchers argue that firms’ international performance is determined by their ability to establish relationships.</p><p>Problem: In order to facilitate the search for business actors globally, Chamber Trade Business to Business AB offers a database in which companies can post business inquiries. Lately, the number of inquiries published in the database has decreased. Therefore, the question arose what other tools companies use instead when searching for business partners. This empirically driven problem is also matched by a theoretical need for more research about how firms establish international relationships.</p><p>Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to analyse how small Swedish B2B companies find downstream international partners.</p><p>Theoretical framework: In order to create a frame of reference for guidance in the collection and analysis of the empirical data, theory has been divided into three sections; Internationalisation theory, Business to Business relationships theory, and Means for international interaction.</p><p>Method: To fulfil the purpose of the thesis, a qualitative study with an inductive approach was undertaken. Secondary data in terms of literature and academic articles were scanned to create a theoretical framework and to facilitate the collection of primary data. Primary data was gathered from ten small Swedish firms in order to find out how their downstream international business relationships had been initiated.</p><p>Conclusion: Our thesis concludes that many Swedish sellers start out their internationalisation to countries with close distance by responding to unsolicited orders from foreign customers. Over time, their proactiveness increases and they primary use the following channels in order to find international partners: networks, trade fairs, trade- and industry organisations, and the Internet. Databases have several defaults for being a useful search tool, mainly their lack of precise search criteria and personal interaction. Further, when companies offer a high quality product, a reputation is created about the company. Consequently, foreign customers pull the company into new countries and the need for external search tools is low.</p>

No description available.

This research investigated whether the buyer-seller interorganizational relationship (IOR) differed between a firm and two classes of customers. The first class used electronic data interchange (EDI) with the firm and the second class used the traditional paper-based purchasing system. IOR characteristics included reputation, skill, direct power, indirect power, reciprocity, and efficiency.

In recent years, a number of researchers have questioned the traditional notion of the producer as the sole generator of innovation in buyer seller relationships. Increasingly, innovation generation has been recognized as an outcome of interaction between a firm and various outside entities. According to this view, supplier involvement and alliances are a route to innovation generation. Clearly, business market relationships provide an important opportunity for interaction between buyer and seller. Despite this realization, only very limited research has focused on innovation generation in business-to-business relationships. To alleviate this important gap in literature, this thesis develops a conceptual model and hypotheses of innovation generation in business-to-buyer seller relationships. The research uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative techniques to examine the proposed theoretical model of innovation generation. A pilot case study is followed by development of and purification of measures using the IMP database on supplier customer interfirm relations in Europe and China. The hypotheses and model are tested using correlation and regression analysis. Results suggest that innovation generation is indeed facilitated by buyer seller interactions. Interaction also moderates the effect of other relationship and technology factors and type of innovation generated / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) (Marketing)

<p><strong>Background:</strong> In order to survive and attain growth organizations need to make different investments which require that different decisions are being made. It is a process, by which a person, group or an organization identifies a choice or judgment to be made, gathers and evaluates information about alternatives and selects from among the alternatives. Thus, a decision is of great importance for an organization for which it is interesting for us to see how they make their decisions regarding a purchase and foremost how the actual decision-making process is constituted regarding a purchase of a simulation solution offered by our case company FrontWay AB.</p><p><strong>Purpose:</strong> The purpose of this thesis is to examine and understand how a client’s decision-making process looks like, concerning the purchasing of technical complex products in industrial organizations, more specifically in the pulp- and paper industry.</p><p><strong>Method:</strong> A qualitative study has been used, based on interviews with the clients of FrontWay who have bough their simulation solution or are in the buying process.</p><p><strong>Result and Conclusions: </strong>The empirical findings that has come to hand shows that the decision-making process actually was shorter than perceived by the case company. One explanation was that the investment was not seen as big. Further we have concluded that the selling organization and the buying organization do not see the same start and end point when a decision is being made. The decision-making process for the buying organization seems to be difficult to shorten down, however, if the selling organization will do some changes maybe it can be shortened down. It is however questionable if FrontWay can make changes at all since it requires a lot of work as well as a lot of resources. As it takes time to make a good decision, and also resources from the buying organization to have someone working with simulations solution fulltime it is unsure if it is of interest to actually shorten down the decision-making process.</p>

Introduction: Already in the 1970’s, internationalisation was noted as a striking trend in business. Since then, the speed of internationalisation has increased as infrastructure, communication, and IT have decreased space and time barriers for international trade. Today, companies must engage in international activities to survive in the competitive environment and researchers argue that firms’ international performance is determined by their ability to establish relationships. Problem: In order to facilitate the search for business actors globally, Chamber Trade Business to Business AB offers a database in which companies can post business inquiries. Lately, the number of inquiries published in the database has decreased. Therefore, the question arose what other tools companies use instead when searching for business partners. This empirically driven problem is also matched by a theoretical need for more research about how firms establish international relationships. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to analyse how small Swedish B2B companies find downstream international partners. Theoretical framework: In order to create a frame of reference for guidance in the collection and analysis of the empirical data, theory has been divided into three sections; Internationalisation theory, Business to Business relationships theory, and Means for international interaction. Method: To fulfil the purpose of the thesis, a qualitative study with an inductive approach was undertaken. Secondary data in terms of literature and academic articles were scanned to create a theoretical framework and to facilitate the collection of primary data. Primary data was gathered from ten small Swedish firms in order to find out how their downstream international business relationships had been initiated. Conclusion: Our thesis concludes that many Swedish sellers start out their internationalisation to countries with close distance by responding to unsolicited orders from foreign customers. Over time, their proactiveness increases and they primary use the following channels in order to find international partners: networks, trade fairs, trade- and industry organisations, and the Internet. Databases have several defaults for being a useful search tool, mainly their lack of precise search criteria and personal interaction. Further, when companies offer a high quality product, a reputation is created about the company. Consequently, foreign customers pull the company into new countries and the need for external search tools is low.

Background: In order to survive and attain growth organizations need to make different investments which require that different decisions are being made. It is a process, by which a person, group or an organization identifies a choice or judgment to be made, gathers and evaluates information about alternatives and selects from among the alternatives. Thus, a decision is of great importance for an organization for which it is interesting for us to see how they make their decisions regarding a purchase and foremost how the actual decision-making process is constituted regarding a purchase of a simulation solution offered by our case company FrontWay AB. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to examine and understand how a client’s decision-making process looks like, concerning the purchasing of technical complex products in industrial organizations, more specifically in the pulp- and paper industry. Method: A qualitative study has been used, based on interviews with the clients of FrontWay who have bough their simulation solution or are in the buying process. Result and Conclusions: The empirical findings that has come to hand shows that the decision-making process actually was shorter than perceived by the case company. One explanation was that the investment was not seen as big. Further we have concluded that the selling organization and the buying organization do not see the same start and end point when a decision is being made. The decision-making process for the buying organization seems to be difficult to shorten down, however, if the selling organization will do some changes maybe it can be shortened down. It is however questionable if FrontWay can make changes at all since it requires a lot of work as well as a lot of resources. As it takes time to make a good decision, and also resources from the buying organization to have someone working with simulations solution fulltime it is unsure if it is of interest to actually shorten down the decision-making process.

Background: The result of our interactive information society is that sales business has shifted from a tactical to a strategical focus, thus companies have had to adapt to this change. The evolution of sales shows that companies have gone from one static model to another, which is discarded by the new concept ‘insight selling’ claiming that it through insights is possible to be forceful in the, these days, rough sales climate. Purpose: The purpose of the report is to form an understanding of how insight sales affect a sales process. Research question: How does insight selling affect the B2B sales process? Methodology: Process mapping through interviews in combination with organizational documents. Findings: Insight selling affects the sales process by a clearer research mindset and a change in communication in relation to the customer.

Background: There is a knowledge gap in the B2B-businesses adoption of inbound marketing strategies. The B2B sector has a substantial economic impact on the society and their marketing activities need to adapt towards the digital era. In the Swedish market, this has not yet been sufficiently researched up until this point. Purpose: This study serves to provide insight in key issues and problems when B2B businesses incorporate inbound marketing strategies. The maturity in the Swedish B2B market aims to be investigated and implementation problems to be highlighted. This information could aid Swedish B2B businesses in the future by becoming aware of issues beforehand. Also, this can give B2B businesses beneficial insights when the sector is increasingly adopting inbound marketing in the future. Method: In order to achieve in-depth understanding on the subject, a qualitative study with an exploratory design was conducted. By judgemental sampling methods, the research incorporates insights by knowledgeable industry professionals. Empirical findings were conducted through semi-structured interviews in which participants were encouraged to discuss inbound marketing in a B2B context in both detailed and broader terms. Conclusion: This study show that digital marketing is widely adopted in a B2B context, but inbound marketing strategy maturity is difficult to measure on a scale from this type of research. Key issues to implementation are organisational issues within a business, difficulty to determine goals, lack of knowledge in management about digital channels and possibilities, in addition to changing behaviour by B2B sales representatives. The future is looking bright for inbound marketing strategies even after the GDPR takes effect in May 2018, this study has shown.