ANTECEDENTS OF RELATIONSIDP FUNCTIONS IN INDUSTRIAL MARKETS: A CROSS NATIONAL COMPARISON

The mix of direct and indirect functions of interfirm relations from a supplier's perspective are reported for a large scale cross national study of interfirm relations carried out in Europe and Asia. Hypotheses regarding four types of antecedents of relationship functions are proposed and tested i.e. relationship duration, importance, trust and relative power. The Functions of Interfirm Relationships There has been considerable work in marketing over the last decade or so examining the nature and benefits of interfirm relations- particularly long-term relations. Increasingly there is focus on considering the trade-offs between benefits and costs in a relation, or what has come to be termed "relationship value " ~iong et al 1997, Ravald and Gronroos 1996, Sheth and Sharma 1997). Value creation is essential for both customers and suppliers. However Walter et al (200 1) note that the majority of work to date has focussed on customer value creation. This paper begins to redress that gap, considering the ways relationships create value for the supplier. Value creation occurs in part via the effective performance of what has been termed relationship functions (Walter et al 200 1) The functions of a business relationship for an individual firm arise fro