This research examines the evolution of cooperative interorganizational relationships and provides an empirical test of four propositions from the DSO (Dwyer et al. 1987) life-cycle theory, and one proposition from the RV (Ring and Van de Ven 1994) theory of relationship development. Using...

Most managers, when confronted with a difficult strategic decision, would like to know what is the prevailing practice in their industry. Prevailing practice interests managers, in part, because it may indicate which decisions are good, even "best." The rationale is "Darwinian economics," which...

This descriptive study explores the reasons for integration of the personal selling function, i.e., the use of employee (“direct”) salespeople rather than manufacturers' representatives (“reps”). A hypothesized model is developed based on both transaction cost analysis and the sales...

This descriptive study explores the reasons for integration of the personal selling function, i.e., the use of employee (“direct”) salespeople rather than manufacturers' representatives (“reps”). A hypothesized model is developed based on both transaction cost analysis and the sales...

Recently, increasing attention has been paid to the question of how to build stable, long-term relationships between manufacturers and members of conventional channels. This descriptive field study concerns a basic requirement for building long-term relationships, which is the expectation by a...

The authors dedicate this paper in honor of the memory of their deceased co-author, Erin Anderson. In dyadic business relationships, parties can be incorrect in reading their counterparts' relational closeness. For example, they can overestimate or underestimate the counterpart's commitment to...

Opportunism is a central construct in exchange theory. Economists contend that despite the firm's best efforts to erect governance structures that reduce opportunism and preserve outcomes, there is always some opportunism that remains once the transaction is in place. Despite this, there are few...

We focus on the principal-agent relationship in a distribution channel. In a services context (insurance), we examine how two facets of performance, from the point of view of both the principal and the agent, are influenced by the perceiver's belief that it is more committed to the relationship...

This article develops and tests a model of integration of a marketing function, personal selling. The model, derived from transaction cost analysis as developed principally by Williamson, is formulated as a logistic function, which is estimated with data from the electronic components industry....