Gaining access to customers' resources through relationship bonds

This paper notes that, in addition to tangible resources, a seller needs to access valuable and less imitable intangible resources, such as downstream market knowledge, from its customers. This exchange occurs as part of the process that creates value for both partners. The paper therefore reports on a study that assesses how the expected level of input of resources by sellers into business-to-business buyer-seller relationships affects their access to their buyers’ resources. The paper proposes a model which includes relationship bonds as a mediator of this access and applies structural equation modelling to survey data to test it. The analysis finds support for the model