During the past decade, marketing managers and scholars have focused increased attention on buyer–seller relationships in business markets. This article contributes to the emerging body of knowledg...

Buyer-seller relationships in business markets

This study compares the pre- and postprivatization financial and operating performance of 61 companies from 18 countries and 32 industries that experience full or partial privatization through public share offerings during the period 1961 to 1990. Our results document strong performance improvements, achieved surprisingly without sacrificing employment security. Specifically, after being privatized, firms increase real sales, become more profitable, increase their capital investment spending, improve their operating efficiency, and increase their work forces. Furthermore, these companies significantly lower their debt levels and increase dividend payout. Finally, we document significant changes in the size and composition of corporate boards of directors after privatization. THE LAST FIFTEEN YEARS have witnessed a significant, global shift away from state socialism towards entrepreneurial capitalism. One of the most important and visible aspects of this trend has been the enthusiasm with which governments of all political persuasions have sold their state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to private investors in hopes that the generally unsatisfactory economic performance of these firms can be improved by the discipline of private ownership. This denationalization process, given its current title of "privatization" by the conservative government of Margaret Thatcher in

/pdf/the-financial-and-operating-performance-of-newly-privatized-1sc66f49gp.pdf

The Financial and Operating Performance of Newly Privatized Firms: An International Empirical Analysis

Recently, there has been a growing trend toward long-term relationships between manufacturers and their suppliers Although much as been written about the benefits of this shift to manufacturers, l

Long-Term Manufacturer-Supplier Relationships: Do They Pay off for Supplier Firms?:

On the basis of social exchange theory and the resource-dependence model, a structural model of interfirm adaptation is formulated. The model accounts for mutual adaptation as a consequence of trus ...

Interfirm Adaptation in Business Relationships

In this article, the authors examine the acquisition and utilization of information in new product alliances. Drawing from research in social network theory with a focus on the strength-of-ties literature, the authors suggest that horizontal alliances have lower levels of relational embeddedness and higher levels of knowledge redundancy than vertical alliances. The authors then suggest that though embeddedness enhances both the acquisition and utilization of information in alliances, redundancy diminishes information acquisition but enhances information utilization. The authors test these ideas using a sample of 106 U.S. firms that recently have participated in new product alliances. Although the results are broadly supportive of the predictions, they are also surprising because they question key underlying assumptions of the strength-of-ties literature. For example, closely tied individual actors are typically assumed to share both high levels of embeddedness and high levels of redundancy, but t...

/pdf/the-acquisition-and-utilization-of-information-in-new-96wlnprk2m.pdf

The acquisition and utilization of information in new product alliances: A strength-of-ties perspective

Women's current high levels of participation in the labor force have focused attention on changing life-styles and consumption patterns. This study uses life-style variables as predictors of food s...

New Life-Style Determinants of Women's Food Shopping Behavior:

Privatization: Not the only answer

Though distributor power should be affected by both manufacturer and customer market power, previous research on channel power has addressed only the manufacturer-middleman dyad. In an empirical study, the authors significantly extend previous research by demonstrating that customer market power as well as manufacturer market power has a role in determining distributor power. They also identify the specific dimensions of both manufacturer and customer market power that may affect distributor power. Finally, they discuss the implications of the findings for marketing management and future research.

Distributor Power versus Manufacturer Power: The Customer Role:

In drawing attention to certain important gaps in the export marketing literature, this paper reports on a systematic study of critical factors for export success of small and medium-sized manufact...

Perceived Export Success Factors of Small and Medium-Sized Canadian Firms:

Since nearly all types of consumer products end up in retail stores, the retail scene affects a wide range of businesses. However, retailers are competing in a marketplace characterized by maturity, overcapacity, intense price competition, and an essential “sameness” among stores. Retailers will need new strategies to be successful.

Lawrence H. Wortzel

Papers

New Life-Style Determinants of Women's Food Shopping Behavior:

Privatization: Not the only answer

Distributor Power versus Manufacturer Power: The Customer Role:

Perceived Export Success Factors of Small and Medium-Sized Canadian Firms:

Retailing strategies for today's mature marketplace