Relationship marketing—establishing, developing, and maintaining successful relational exchanges—constitutes a major shift in marketing theory and practice. After conceptualizing relationship marke...

The Commitment-Trust Theory of Relationship Marketing

This paper argues for the recognition of important experiential aspects of consumption. Specifically, a general framework is constructed to represent typical consumer behavior variables. Based on this paradigm, the prevailing information processing model is contrasted with an experiential view that focuses on the symbolic, hedonic, and esthetic nature of consumption. This view regards the consumption experience as a phenomenon directed toward the pursuit of fantasies, feelings, and fun.

The Experiential Aspects of Consumption: Consumer Fantasies, Feelings, and Fun

This article builds a theoretical framework to help explain governance patterns in global value chains It draws on three streams of literature ‐ transaction costs economics, production networks, and technological capability and firm-level learning ‐ to identify three variables that play a large role in determining how global value chains are governed and change These are: (1) the complexity of transactions, (2) the ability to codify transactions, and (3) the capabilities in the supply-base The theory generates five types of global value chain governance ‐ hierarchy, captive, relational, modular, and market ‐ which range from high to low levels of explicit coordination and power asymmetry The article highlights the dynamic and overlapping nature of global value chain governance through four brief industry case studies: bicycles, apparel, horticulture and electronics

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The governance of global value chains

Global competition highlights asymmetries in the skill endowments of firms. Collaboration may provide an opportunity for one partner to internalize the skills of the other, and thus improve its position both within and without the alliance. Detailed analysis of nine international alliances yielded a fine-grained understanding of the determinants of interpartner learning. The study suggests that not all partners are equally adept at learning; that asymmetries in learning alter the relative bargaining power of partners; that stability and longevity may be inappropriate metrics of partnership success; that partners may have competitive, as well as collaborative aims, vis-a-vis each other; and that process may be more important than structure in determining learning outcomes.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/2486643.pdf

Competition for competence and interpartner learning within international strategic alliances

The Uppsala internationalization process model is revisited in the light of changes in business practices and theoretical advances that have been made since 1977. Now the business environment is viewed as a web of relationships, a network, rather than as a neoclassical market with many independent suppliers and customers. Outsidership, in relation to the relevant network, more than psychic distance, is the root of uncertainty. The change mechanisms in the revised model are essentially the same as those in the original version, although we add trust-building and knowledge creation, the latter to recognize the fact that new knowledge is developed in relationships.

/pdf/the-uppsala-internationalization-process-model-revisited-2ck5k4nfor.pdf

The Uppsala Internationalization Process Model Revisited: From Liability of Foreignness to Liability of Outsidership

Summary Interorganizational networks generally have been discussed in the context of nonprofit agencies. Providing an alternative between the open market and the internalization of activity the network potentially may be even more important in business. This is especially true in international operations and in industrial and services marketing. Involving technology transfer, information exchange, accounting and finance as well as marketing, network management calls for a holistic approach. To serve as an engine of growth the network also requires strategic planning both at the overall level and in memberfirms.

Networks: Between Markets and Hierarchies

The relative importance of country of origin, product warranty, and retail store image on consumers′ product quality perception, overall attitude toward the product, and purchase intentions is investigated. A 2x2x2 full factorial design with two levels (high and low) of country of origin, warranty and retail store image is utilised. ANOVA results show that country of origin and warranty cues have significant impacts on the three dependent measures. The interaction effects of all three independent variables are significant for the quality perception and overall attitude towards the product but are not significant for the purchase intentions. In addition excellent warranty terms combined with store reputation has a greater impact on the dependent variables than the country‐of‐origin cue. Managerial implications of the research findings are discussed.

Relative Importance of Country of Origin, Warranty, and Retail Store Image on Product Evaluations

One of the cornerstones of a firm's marketing strategy in any market is the development of an appropriate product positioning plan. This paper argues that may of the same considerations that go into the positioning strategy in the home country are directly relevant for international markets. There is an added elements of complexity in that the country-of-origin of the imported product will often be a salient factor in the buyer evaluation process. The effect of country stereotype will be to shift the position of the product in the perceptual space and alter the overall evaluation of its merits. The competitive strength of the product will thus be affected by country biases. The paper shows how these factors can be dealt with in the management of the “international product positioning” task.

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1057%2Fpalgrave.jibs.8490459.pdf

International Product Positioning

This study examined the market structures, performance, and strategies of over 1000 industrial businesses to determine whether and to what extent product life cycle forces were at work. The finding...

The Nature of Product Life Cycles for Industrial Goods Businesses

Consumer information systems in general, and independent consumer information programs in particular, are seen as indispensable elements of consumer policy, both private and public. In open market ...

Hans B. Thorelli

Papers

Networks: Between Markets and Hierarchies

Relative Importance of Country of Origin, Warranty, and Retail Store Image on Product Evaluations

International Product Positioning

The Nature of Product Life Cycles for Industrial Goods Businesses

Information seekers and information systems: a policy perspective