Purpose – The strategy of carefully selecting the most important group of business customers for special treatment – for which several terms are in use – has come in for considerable recent attention from both academics and practitioners. The purpose of this paper is to examine...

Purpose – The purpose of the study is to identify and discuss critical aspects of the academic/practitioner gap and suggest how to make marketing research more relevant. Design/Methodology/Approach – The study uses data from an earlier study of eight qualitative interviews conducted with...

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to contribute to the debate about the existence and nature of a “gap” between theory and practice in management. Design/methodology/approach – The putative theory/practice “gap” in management is investigated by examining the theory/practice debate...

Purpose – This paper sets out to address the influence of relational variables, such as trust and commitment, on international joint venture (IJV) performance, in the empirical context of UK/Chinese joint ventures. Design/methodology/approach – The paper starts with a discussion of the...

Purpose – Guanxi has been well documented as being an essential part of doing business in China. Yet, as China continues with market liberalisation, there are indications that its strategic importance is set to decline. From a joint venture perspective, this study seeks to examine the...