Background: The success and quality of B2B relationships have been researched for decades. Relationship success carries many definitions, but prior literature lacks depth in how it is achieved. Relationship quality is often determined through three pillars: trust, commitment, and satisfaction. There is, however, unclarity as to what underlying factors build these pillars, due to the scarce amount of literature available on the topic. Purpose: To establish what aspects contribute to the success and quality of a relationship, by examining how relationship success, as well as relationship quality and how its three pillars are built, are perceived by Mediaspjuth's customers. Method: This interpretivist study initially follows a deductive approach as an already existing conceptual framework has guided the collection of data deemed necessary to answer the research questions. As the aim is to also seek answers to what factors build the three pillars of relationship quality; trust commitment, and satisfaction, the study also undertakes an inductive approach. Ten qualitative, semi-structured interviews were conducted as a primary source of data. Conclusion: The empirical findings detected important factors influencing relationship success, trust, commitment, and satisfaction. The study found that the quality of the relationship, quality of delivery, and integrity were the main factors affecting relationship success. Trust was built on the delivery process and the management of the relationship, while commitment focused on proactivity and dedication. Lastly, satisfaction was achieved mainly through the outcome quality and mutual benefits.

This research studies the relationship between car manufacturers (CM) and third party logistics providers (TPLP), also known as the logistics partnership, in the outbound delivery channel in the Malaysian automotive industry. It focuses specifically on the dyad perspective, and demonstrates that several critical success factors are required for a successful relationship between these two parties. Five such factors emanate from the operational dimension and eight from the relational dimension. The five operational factors are: logistics service performance, investment, information sharing, information technology and communication, and price of the logistics service; and the eight relational factors are: trust, commitment, power, conflict, dependency, co-operation, informal activity, and understanding. The study also reveals that five outcomes are identified that benefit both the CM and the TPLP as a result of the win-win situation accruing to both parties. These are: renewal of the contract, company profitability, improved logistics service performance, knowledge transfer, and company branding. Such benefits enhance the supply chain relationship, and knowledge of these advantages improves current TPLP theory by deepening the understanding of how logistics partnership can succeed. In order to obtain rich data concerning the CM-TPLP relationship, the researcher adopted a different methodology from that used by previous scholars, who have concentrated on quantitative techniques. In this study, multiple case studies (seven in total) in one industry, the automotive industry, in the non-western context of Malaysia, were conducted. Three main steps in the case study protocol were followed. The first involved a review of the literature pertaining to the themes that required further exploration, together with the development of the interview questions. In the second step, data were collected using semi-structured interviews, observations, document reviews, photographs and also archival records. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data. The third stage involved exploring the data until it was found that nothing new was emerging from the interviews, and hence theoretical saturation had occurred. At this point the factors in question were confirmed, and the initial model revised. Additionally, confidentiality was maintained in all respects to protect the participating organisations and individuals. The findings contribute to the understanding of the CM-TPLP relationship which enhance supply chain relationship and TPLP theory, since they shed light on the operational and relational factors in one specific industry, from a dyadic perspective, and in a non-Western context, thereby adding new dimensions to the existing body of knowledge in this field. The findings benefit practitioners via the novel LPS (logistics partnership success) model generated by the researcher. This indicates the key contributory factors to the CM-TPLP relationship success. Moreover, the study may have the capacity to generalise to other culturally-similar environments.

Research suggests that interracial couples are more distressed and have lower stability compared to their endogamous counterparts. Interracial relationships involving Whites and Asians, however, seem to be an exception. To explore this exception, the pathways to relationship stability among endogamous and exogamous Asian-White couples were compared. Using Analysis of Covariance, partner empathy, social approval, relationship satisfaction, and relationship stability for endogamous and exogamous Asian-White couples were compared, while holding length of relationship constant. Actor and partner effects of partner empathy and social approval on relationship satisfaction and relationship stability, as well as that of relationship satisfaction on relationship stability, were compared between the racial pair groups using structural equation modeling. Endogamous Asian couples consistently scored lowest in relational and social factors, as well as in relationship outcomes. Relational factors more strongly predict relationship satisfaction and stability among White men regardless of partner's race than among Asian men. Empathy predicts relationship satisfaction and stability among exogamous women no differently than among endogamous women. Social contexts, however, influence relationship outcomes differently between endogamous and exogamous couples. Lastly, both actor and partner effects of relationship satisfaction on relationship stability did not differ across groups.

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