Chapter 5 Availability of Resources through Buyer–Seller Relationships

Abstract

Both the service-dominant logic of marketing and the resource-based view of the firm strongly emphasize the creation of value through buyer–seller relationships by the exchange of resources. To facilitate this exchange of resources, and hence to facilitate value co-creation, the resources of both buyer and seller must be made available to one another. This availability is no accident. Availability of resources occurs through the interaction between the buyer and the seller. In order for this interaction to take place effectively, the relationship must be a good one, particularly in terms of factors such as the commitment, trust, and satisfaction that each partner feels with respect to the other.

Issues of exchange of resources, especially intangible informational resources, through relationships as noted above currently occupy the minds of both managers and researchers. This chapter therefore explores these issues and describes an empirical study that investigates aspects of the exchange of these types of resources through buyer–seller relationships, and some of the conditions that facilitate availability of the resources, specifically in the business-to-business context. The chapter develops a model from the perspective of a seller in a buyer–seller relationship in the business-to-business context and describes the testing of that model.

The model's main constructs are the perceived future accessibility to the seller of the buyer's less tangible resources, the quality of the relationship, and the future financial performance outcomes of the relationship. Survey data, analyzed using structural equation modeling, support the model's proposition that both accessibility of buyer's resources and quality of the relationship have positive outcomes for future financial performance. The analysis also supports the proposed positive relationship between relationship quality and accessibility of buyer's resources. A case study illustrates the application of the model's concepts.

Citation

Baxter, R. (2012), "Chapter 5 Availability of Resources through Buyer–Seller Relationships", Glynn, M.S. and Woodside, A.G. (Ed.) Business-to-Business Marketing Management: Strategies, Cases, and Solutions (Advances in Business Marketing and Purchasing, Vol. 18), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 119-140. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1069-0964(2012)0000018010