Is the theory of trust and commitment in marketing relationships incomplete?

This chapter explores how one company leveraged motorsports to build brand credibility, establish powerful marketing relationships, and connect with distinctly different consumer groups via virtual brand communities. Companies with strong virtual communities may benefit from the case study suggestions that are provided and discussed based on the theoretical perspective of brand equity. Marketing scholars and practitioners alike may find this case study of interest due to the growing desire by companies to develop strong bonds with consumers and their interest in effectively leveraging virtual brand communities as a tool. Several practice recommendations for leveraging virtual communities to enhance brand equity are discussed.

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Building marketing relationships: the six markets model

Relationship Marketing ◽

10.1016/b978-0-7506-4839-4.50006-6 ◽

2002 ◽

pp. 76-119

Author(s):

M CHRISTOPHER

Keyword(s):

Marketing Relationships

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Do Norms Matter in Marketing Relationships?

Journal of Marketing ◽

10.1177/002224299205600203 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 56 (2) ◽

pp. 32-44 ◽

Cited By ~ 432

Author(s):

Jan B. Heide ◽

George John

Keyword(s):

Cost Analysis ◽

Transaction Cost ◽

Empirical Test ◽

Supplier Relationships ◽

Vertical Control ◽

Marketing Relationships ◽

Growing Body ◽

Behavioral Norm ◽

Cost Studies ◽

Good Support

Transaction cost analysis is rapidly becoming an important theoretical paradigm in marketing. However, the accumulation of transaction cost studies has been accompanied by a growing body of criticism, primarily directed toward its underlying behavioral norm of opportunism. That norm is a serious theoretical deficiency, not only because it may be descriptively inaccurate, but also because it limits the applicability of the theoretical framework. The authors show that norms play a very significant role in structuring economically efficient relationships between independent firms. In the absence of supportive norms, it is not possible for parties whose specific assets are at risk to acquire vertical control as per the transaction cost prescription. Instead, those parties lose control because of their dependence. An empirical test of the conceptual model in a sample of manufacturer-supplier relationships shows good support for the authors’ hypotheses.

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Distribution-Free Methods of Approximating Nonlinear Marketing Relationships

Journal of Marketing Research ◽

10.1177/002224378201900310 ◽

1982 ◽

Vol 19 (3) ◽

pp. 372-374 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Roland T. Rust ◽

Elizabeth O. Bornman

Keyword(s):

Curve Fitting ◽

Nonlinear Function ◽

Model Specification ◽

Trial And Error ◽

Explicit Model ◽

Distribution Free ◽

Nonlinear Fitting ◽

Functional Relationships ◽

Marketing Relationships ◽

Implicit Model

Many, if not most, of the important functional relationships in marketing are inherently nonlinear. Fitting a nonlinear function to data involves first the specification of a model, and then the estimation of the model's parameters. Where theory gives insufficient guidance for the specification of a model, specification based on observation of the scatterplot may be required. In many instances it is difficult to specify a model accurately solely on the basis of scatterplot observation. In those instances the researcher's power of observation can be enhanced by use of a distribution-free method of approximating the underlying function. The authors discuss alternative distribution-free methods, and demonstrate how the implicit model specification process of exhaustive trial and error curve-fitting can be replaced by an explicit model specification process based on observing an approximation of the underlying function.

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Forces Impinging on Long-Term Business-to-Business Relationships in the United States: An Historical Perspective

Journal of Marketing ◽

10.1177/002224299806200203 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 62 (2) ◽

pp. 31-45 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

William W. Keep ◽

Stanley C. Hollander ◽

Roger Dickinson

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Economies Of Scale ◽

The United States ◽

Relationship Development ◽

Business Relationships ◽

Department Stores ◽

Advertising Agencies ◽

Marketing Relationships ◽

Business To Business

The authors examine the histories of four business-to-business relationships in the United States: advertising agencies and clients, textile agents and mills, the Pullman Car Company and railroads, and independent department stores and their resident buying offices. The authors’ goals are to gain perspective on how marketing relationships evolve over time and identify those factors that foster closer relationships and those that attenuate relationships. The results show that economic growth, information asymmetry partially prompted by geographic dispersion, entry barriers in one or both industries, dependence asymmetry, and economies of scale are important environmental forces that impinge on relationship development in all four cases.

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Building long-term marketing relationships: New perspectives on B2B financial services

South African Journal of Business Management ◽

10.4102/sajbm.v44i4.167 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 44 (4) ◽

pp. 33-46 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

E. Theron ◽

N. S. Terblanche ◽

C. Boshoff

Keyword(s):

South African ◽

Financial Services ◽

Empirical Support ◽

Marketing Strategies ◽

Relationship Building ◽

Marketing Relationships ◽

Distinct Individual ◽

Business To Business ◽

Theoretical Foundations

The focus of this study was on the relevance of trust, satisfaction and commitment in maintaining a long-term relationship (intention to stay) with an exchange partner in a Business-to-Business (B2B) context in the financial services industry. The perceptions of 238 B2B clients of a leading South African provider of development capital were investigated. Since support could not be found for the existence of trust, commitment and satisfaction as distinct individual dimensions, this study provides empirical support for the amalgamation of some well-established individual dimensions into broader, more holistic dimensions as drivers of long-term relationship building.Contrary to expectations, B2B banking clients participating in this study appeared to regroup individual dimensions, in a heuristic fashion, to form new dimensions that influenced their attitude towards staying in a B2B relationship. As a result, building long-term marketing relationships seems to be a less complicated process than previously thought. Against this background, the primary contribution of the study is that it highlights the need for marketing practitioners to reconsider their current relationship-marketing strategies. As the findings of the study are inconsistent with conventional wisdom, they also challenge marketing academics to reconsider the theoretical foundations of relationship building in a B2B context.

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