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Marketing is the area of coexistence of various research traditions with regard to relational phenomena. This study aims to contribute to limiting the gap between these traditions by testing the influence of network partner knowledge and internal relationship quality on company performance and customer relationship quality.

This is a research paper where hypotheses are derived from prior studies referring to relationship marketing, B2B networks and internal marketing. The hypotheses are tested by using a sample of 264 companies operating in B2B markets and by structural equation modeling.

Customer relationship quality is empirically supported here as a factor mediating influence of network partner knowledge and internal relationship quality on company performance. The proposition of this paper is that company ability to deal effectively with a network in which it is embedded (including internal network) is the antecedent of dealing with customer relationships effectively. The moderator effects of the dominant profile of business are also discussed.

The limitations of the research are presented with regard to the sampling method, research technique/scope and cultural context. The research results may be treated as a direction for further studies exploring connections between constructs from various approaches to relational phenomena in marketing.

This study brings strategic insights into knowledge of business relationships, by investigating empirically whether the focal company may benefit from their external and internal relationships.

To the best of the author's knowledge, there has been no study examining the proposed set of inter‐related research constructs so far.

This paper aims to challenge the up to now mainly product-centered view on international new ventures by analyzing the influence of service orientation on new venture internationalization behavior. It especially focuses on the utilization of specific market entry modes as a result of a growing service orientation.

Newness and complexity of the topic call for a qualitative-empirical research approach. Therefore, the paper is based on an in-depth multiple-case study of six international new ventures operating in fashion and lifestyle industry.

This paper shows that service-oriented international new ventures make use of different market entry modes at the same time. Service-related capabilities allow them to especially use cooperative market entry modes to fuel lacking market knowledge and thus to overcome resource constraints in value creation processes.

The paper contributes to a more holistic understanding of international new ventures, as it provides empirical evidence for the importance of service-related aspects in new venture internationalization. Furthermore, the paper extends international new venture research by not only considering an early international market entry but also other aspects of internationalization such as the type of offerings or the preferred market entry modes.

The purpose of this paper is to identify customers’ service network partners in medical encounters and demonstrate the extent to which customers’ evaluation of each co-creation practice with their service network partners affects their perceived service quality and satisfaction. In addition, the moderating effect of patient age is examined.

By using a field survey, data collected from 164 inpatients were examined through structural equation modeling and multi-group analysis.

The value-creating activities of customers with service providers, companions and other customers during healthcare service encounters have a positive effect on their perception of service quality and satisfaction related to behavioral intentions. Co-creating with service value network partners has a greater impact on perceived service quality and service satisfaction for patients aged 60 or older.

By focusing on participants in customers’ service value co-creating networks, this study contributes to the body of knowledge by confirming the importance of each actor and analyzing customers’ value co-creating activities.

This is the first study to show that when customers’ level of involvement is high, such as in healthcare services, their value-creating activities when interacting with medical staff, companions and other patients positively affect perceived service quality and satisfaction.

Manufacturers increasingly seek new ways to add customer value and differentiate. However, in business markets such efforts often remain relatively unsuccessful, leading to a large number of services offered and higher costs, but with limited corresponding returns. Based on extensive expert interviews and case study research, this paper studies how suppliers in the highly commoditized metalworking industry try to realize new types of customer value. The paper identifies “ideal” value positions pursued by Belgian contract manufacturers and service providers in order to survive in an industry characterized by fierce price competition from low labor cost countries. Further, the paper shows how companies can migrate to these “ideal” value offerings. Key success factors and potential traps for each ideal type are identified. Market strategy transition necessitates an internal “alignment” strategy and an external “coevolution” with chain partners.

This paper seeks to provide a framework for understanding the role and contributions of virtual trade fairs in developing relationships. Using a relationship communication model, the paper aims to explore the determinants of value creation through virtual trade fairs, emphasising the impact of advanced information and communication technologies on contemporary marketing.

The paper is a conceptual work which derives research propositions from an extended literature review.

The paper provides a rationale for factors that determine value creation through virtual trade fairs. The exhibitor firm's understanding of the importance of information, network orientation, capability of customer integration, and relationship attributes are proposed as influences on the effectiveness of virtual trade fairs.

The research has limitations that are due to the exploratory nature of the work. The paper suggests opportunities for further research, particularly approaches to developing measures of effectiveness for virtual trade fairs and for developing integration and interdependencies with other communication instruments.

Referring to existing arguments about the pros and cons of virtual trade fairs, the paper provides a deeper understanding of the content and effectiveness of virtual trade fairs.

The paper sheds light on a phenomenon that, despite its increasing acceptance among practitioners, remains unexplored by marketing research. By providing a better understanding of virtual trade fairs, the paper enriches research on trade fair issues.

This study aims to examine value cocreation in terms of interfirm collaborations between service firms, their business customers and business partners at different stages of a new service development (NSD) process.

The study develops and tests hypotheses that examine the roles played by business customers and partners in NSD, assuming resource dependency of the focal firm during three NSD stages (ideation, development and deployment). Empirical data were collected from 200 NSD projects and structural equation modelling was used to test the hypotheses.

The results show that business customer collaboration has a positive effect on ideation performance and development performance, whereas business partner collaboration has a positive effect on deployment performance. These finding support the notion that the value cocreating roles of business customers and partners vary across NSD stages.

Future research should focus on how business partners can be actively involved in the NSD process and how the interests of different parties can be safeguarded. The use of longitudinal data will allow a better examination of the process dynamics.

The study provides managerial implications for service managers in terms of acquiring and allocating resources needed from business customers and partners during different NSD stages.

The study contributes to the growing literature on value cocreation in NSD by empirically demonstrating the respective performance contributions of business customers and partners during different stages of NSD. Moreover, the results also shed light on interfirm collaboration mechanisms from the perspective of resource dependence theory.

Internationalization has often been described as a gradual development, in terms of involvement and entry forms, in which firms are expected to target gradually more distant markets. This study focuses on the entry forms and market selection of five small Norwegian computer software firms. The findings suggest that the firm's network relationships are determinant with regard to which foreign entry forms they choose and to some extent, which markets they decide to enter. Whereas terms such as agent, distributor, licensee, and foreign subsidiary might have clear distinguishing power when physical products are concerned, the picture is far more complex when it comes to software. The firms in the study generally refer to their international partners as agents or distributors or both. When examined more closely a complex pattern of business solutions are encompassed by these terms. It seems also evident that the firms in the study are not concerned with such a distinction but look for competency, solidity and the ability to generate sales when searching for international partners. There seems to be a limited correlation between the firms’ international experience and their foreign entry form and market selection. The firm may choose one entry form in one market and a different one in another similar market, depending very much upon the options available in terms of their network relationships. Some key challenges for the managers of a software company will be to balance the allocation of resources between expanding the network through the current relationships and to focus on establishing new relationships and customers. This study's results illustrate the increasingly complex relationship between firms across national borders.

Customer participation (CP) has received considerable interest in the service literature as a way to improve the customer experience and reduce service providers' costs. While its benefits are not in question, there is a paucity of research on potential pitfalls. This paper provides a conceptual foundation to address this gap and develops a comprehensive model of the risks of customer participation in service delivery, integrating research from the marketing, operations and supply chain management, strategy, and information technology fields.

The model is derived deductively by integrating insights from research in marketing, operations and supply chain management, strategy, and information technology.

This paper identifies three categories of potential risks of CP (i.e. market, operational, and service network) and discusses ways that firms can mitigate these risks. Building on the model, it develops a CP risk assessment tool that managers can use when evaluating increases in CP.

The conceptual model proposed in this paper can serve as a robust basis for future research in customer participation, particularly in such areas as sharing economy services, service delivery networks, and experiential services. The risk assessment tool offers clear guidelines for managers who are considering an increase in customer participation in their service.

This is the first attempt to conceptually define customer participation risk and develop a comprehensive model of its drivers and strategies to mitigate it. This paper develops a straightforward method for managers to evaluate CP risk.

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate and conceptualize how crowdsourcing can be implemented as a potential means to address gaps in service quality within service networks and to provide guidance to marketing practitioners on the use of crowdsourcing within service networks.

This paper conceptualizes how crowdsourcing can be used to address service quality gaps in service networks and provides propositions regarding the effects of crowdsourcing on service quality gaps.

Conceptual paper with a literature review, suggested a model for service quality gaps in service networks and propositions regarding the effects of crowdsourcing to manage service quality gaps.

This research contributes to the literature on crowdsourcing by theorizing how crowdsourcing impacts service quality in service networks.

Considerations for managers implementing crowdsourcing strategies and activities within service networks are provided. In particular, implications with regard to forming the crowd, developing the most appropriate approach and integrating value into the firm are discussed.

This paper offers an original contribution linking crowdsourcing to service quality.

This article focuses on the role of accounting performance measurement in the creation of public value in the context of the network associated with the justice portfolio within the Australian Commonwealth.

We use concepts of bonding and bridging social capital to theorize the use of performance measurement in government networks.

We find that there is relatively little use of performance measures that reported network level performance and the primary emphasis was on building social capital with funders rather than across network partner agencies. We therefore conclude that existing Australian public sector performance measurement practices are not supportive of intra-governmental networks and therefore the notion that improvement in performance measurement will deliver public value needs further reflection.

The research scope is restricted to governmental network performance measures from a justice portfolio budget perspective. Despite the focused attention of the research, the application of the findings has relevance across all government portfolios and broader public management more generally.

Despite calls for accountability and governance innovation where public value is delivered across organizational boundaries through dependency and collaboration, the case environment offers little evidence that forms of performance measurement over the period examined recognize this practicality. The research primarily adds considerable weight to the argument that the delivery of public value by networks requires an evolution in accountability and performance reporting away from traditional institutional forms of performance representation.

The research is highly novel in its unveiling and examination of contemporary performance measurement reporting from a network perspective.