Managing Business Relationships

David Ford is Professor Emeritus at the University of Bath. His work involves examining how the relationships between companies develop and how they can be managed effectively. It also involves issues of technological development within and between companies. He is currently working as part of the team on the "Newmark" project. This study is looking at ways in which complex networks of companies operate and how companies behave within them. Lars-Erik Gadde is Professor of industrial marketing at Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg. His research interest is focused on the exchange processes among companies in business networks. These processes are analysed from two perspectives. The first concerns purchasing behaviour and purchasing strategies on the buying side, while the second deals with distribution strategies and distribution system dynamics on the selling side. Hakan Hakansson is Professor in International Management, Norwegian School of Management, BI, Oslo. He has been involved in a large number of different projects ranging from long term engagement (several years) to short term teaching sessions for companies such as ABB, Alcatel, Ericsson, Euroc, Grnges, IFL, Jrnia, NCC, Nutek, SIAB, Skanska and others. Ivan Snehota is Professor of Marketing at the University of Lugano, Switzerland. He initiated research focusing on international markets for industrial goods and became in 1976 one of the founders of an international research project on industrial marketing and purchasing (IMP). Since then he has dedicated much of his time to teaching in undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate courses and resumed research related to market relationships.

About the Authors Preface Chapter 1. The Importance of Business Relationships Chapter 2. What are Business Relationships All About? Chapter 3. Relationships with Customers Chapter 4. Relationships with Suppliers Chapter 5. The Economics of Business Relationships Chapter 6. Intermediation in Business Relationships Chapter 7. Technology and Business Networks Chapter 8. Managing in Networks Chapter 9. Developing the Practice of Business Networking Index