Customer-Supplier Relationships in B2B: An Interaction Perspective on Actors in Business Networks

La Rocca, Antonella

This book explores customer-supplier relationships in B2B markets focusing on interaction between parties. Drawing on three fields of research – studies of relationships in marketing, social interactionism in sociology, and sense-making in social psychology – the author explores the concepts and roles of actors in business relationships and how the behaviour of actors within an interaction affects the development of those relationships.

Based on a review of prior research and an original empirical study, the author argues that the presence of continuous close relationships between the customer and supplier organisations bestows features of a business network on B2B markets, with distinct interdependencies and ubiquitous interactions. Exploring buyer-seller interactions, the author contends that actors’ mutually perceived identities – continuously emergent and relationship-specific – are the main factor in the development of business relationships and discusses the implicationsfor management practice and research.

Details

Published by: Palgrave Macmillan

Publication Date: 2021-03-15

Format: Paperback

ISBN-13: 9783030409951

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-40993-7

Dimensions: 210cm x148cm

Pages: 200