How do relationship characteristics create relationship value? Evidence from high-tech SMEs

Relationship value in the business market and its positive impacts on firm performance have discussed in industrial marketing (Tzokas & Saren, 1999; Ulaga & Eggert, 2006; Wilson & Jantrania, 1994). Furthermore, many scholars such as Wilson & Jantrania (1994) have urged for more research to elucidate the characteristics of relationship value, by extension, the sub-dimensional relationship value. However, there is still lack of empirical studies about different dimensions of relationship value and discussion of their mediator roles between relationship characteristics and firm relationship performance. We can assume that firms can have insights into a variety of dimensions of relationship value created through the different dimensions of relationship characteristics with partners and each dimension of relationship value can have associated with the overall performance of the firm. In particular, since SMEs in the high tech industries face on a shorter span of product life cycle, higher uncertainties or limited resources, SMEs need to build alliance partnerships with their suppliers or buyers to reduce risks and to have competitive advantages. Therefore, understanding of how high-tech SMEs have built interactional relationships with alliance partners and how different relational characteristics create different types of relationship value is critical in SMEs context. In addressing the above mentioned assumption, the study contributes to the literature in three ways. First, by investigating the influences of different types of relationship characteristics on the creation of different dimensions of relationship value among high-tech SMEs, this study stresses the importance of dimensions of relationship value which prior theoretical literature has indicated but they were not spelt out with good size of empirical evidence yet. The results of the analysis provide high-tech SMEs with practical implications by suggesting how they can create each dimension of relationship value by choosing and developing each dimension of relationship characteristics with alliance partners. Second, with theoretical implications, the study contributes to a knowledge body of literature on relationship value based on a resource-based theory by developing the measurement items for four types of relationship value and adding empirical evidence from technology-intensive SMEs. Finally, this study fills an important gap in relationship marketing literature by providing an in-depth investigation of how SMEs can achieve overall performance

How do relationship characteristics create relationship value? Evidence from high-tech SMEs

Relationship value in the business market and its positive impacts on firm performance have discussed in industrial marketing (Tzokas & Saren, 1999; Ulaga & Eggert, 2006; Wilson & Jantrania, 1994). Furthermore, many scholars such as Wilson & Jantrania (1994) have urged for more research to elucidate the characteristics of relationship value, by extension, the sub-dimensional relationship value. However, there is still lack of empirical studies about different dimensions of relationship value and discussion of their mediator roles between relationship characteristics and firm relationship performance. We can assume that firms can have insights into a variety of dimensions of relationship value created through the different dimensions of relationship characteristics with partners and each dimension of relationship value can have associated with the overall performance of the firm. In particular, since SMEs in the high tech industries face on a shorter span of product life cycle, higher uncertainties or limited resources, SMEs need to build alliance partnerships with their suppliers or buyers to reduce risks and to have competitive advantages. Therefore, understanding of how high-tech SMEs have built interactional relationships with alliance partners and how different relational characteristics create different types of relationship value is critical in SMEs context. In addressing the above mentioned assumption, the study contributes to the literature in three ways. First, by investigating the influences of different types of relationship characteristics on the creation of different dimensions of relationship value among high-tech SMEs, this study stresses the importance of dimensions of relationship value which prior theoretical literature has indicated but they were not spelt out with good size of empirical evidence yet. The results of the analysis provide high-tech SMEs with practical implications by suggesting how they can create each dimension of relationship value by choosing and developing each dimension of relationship characteristics with alliance partners. Second, with theoretical implications, the study contributes to a knowledge body of literature on relationship value based on a resource-based theory by developing the measurement items for four types of relationship value and adding empirical evidence from technology-intensive SMEs. Finally, this study fills an important gap in relationship marketing literature by providing an in-depth investigation of how SMEs can achieve overall performance

Absorptive capacity and performance: The role of customer relationship and technological capabilities in high-tech SMEs

This study focuses on how the interplay between a firm's absorptive capacity (ACAP), and its technological and customer relationship capability contributes to its overall performance. Using structural equation modeling in a sample of 158 firms (316 questionnaires, two respondents per firm) from South Korea's semiconductor industry, we find that a firm's ACAP leads to better performance in terms of new product development, market performance and profitability when used in combination with the firm's capability to engage state of the art technologies in its new product development program (NPD) (technological capability) as well as cultivate strong customer relationships to gain customer insight in NPD (customer relationship capability). By highlighting the interactive nature of absorptive capacity's antecedents and how these relate to firms' performance, this study contributes to the understanding of the role of ACAP as a mechanism for translating external knowledge into tangible benefits in high-tech SMEs, thus leading to important theoretical and practical implications

On Strategy, Typologies and the Adoption of Technological Innovations in Industrial Markets

This paper investigates the role of strategy in the timing of adoption of technological innovation by industrial firms. In the course of this investigation we bring together and consolidate theoretical insights and empirical evidence from diverse yet fundamentally related streams of research. Strategy is placed within the wider context of the many factors that have been found to influence the timing of a firm's decision to adopt a technological innovation, and conjectures about its precise role are debated. The paper concludes with suggestions towards a synthesis of the highly fragmented work in the area, and identifies key directions for research aimed at a better understanding of the innovation adoption decision in contemporary firms and the interrelationships of the many factors influencing this decision

A Cultural Perspective of Relationship Orientation: Using Organisational Culture to Support a Supply Relationship Orientation

Relationship marketing theory maintains that firms can engage in a multitude of relationships oriented towards key stakeholders such as customers and suppliers. This study explores one type of relationship orientation from the viewpoint of the relationships firms have with their suppliers, referred to as a Supply Relationship Orientation (SRO). We take an organisational culture perspective positing that an SRO is manifested through the basic assumptions, values, artifacts and behaviours of the organisation and introduce a measurement tool for SRO. Based on a study of buyers' perceptions of their firms' relationship orientation towards suppliers, the results indicate that an organisational culture perspective of relationship orientation appears valid and enhances previous studies of relationship orientation by providing support for being culturally embedde