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The study focuses on how to build long-term relationships with multi-channel agencies (MCAs) (dealers) who serve multiple manufacturers on a non-exclusive basis in a business-to-business (B2B) market. This study looks at the framework of relational benefits-commitment-long term orientation in a business-to-business context.

Data were collected from MCAs of three leading companies in the food distribution business. The survey used established scales to measure the relational benefits (core, operational, social and special treatment), commitment (affective and calculative) and long-term orientation (LTO).

The findings of the study show that core, social and special treatment benefits influence calculative commitment, and operational and special treatment benefits influence affective commitment. The study also supports that calculative and affective commitment play an important role in understanding the loyalty of MCAs.

The research examines how relational benefits impact commitment and loyalty among MCAs and manufacturers, in a non-exclusive relationship, in the business-to-business environment. This study incorporates social exchange theory (SET), relational benefits paradigm and commitment and long-term orientation in its framework and tests it within the food distribution industry. This study is the first of its kind to examine the effects of relational benefits on MCAs behavior in a food supplier–buyer setting.

Taking the Spanish agro‐food sector as reference, the current work seeks to examine the moderating effect of the type of input exchanged; specifically, to analyze the potential differences in temporal orientation of the relationships established between companies and suppliers of “core” and “auxiliary” inputs.

The information was obtained by means of a postal survey of managers responsible for the supply function from a random sample of Spanish agro‐food companies, specifically wine producers. The reason for approaching these professionals was to obtain responses from individuals who are directly in contact with the firm's suppliers, and who negotiate the purchasing agreements.

The findings show that, although communication, trust and satisfaction are always important as evaluated elements, their importance is higher when “core” products are considered. The data also indicate that for the case of products that are considered “core”, the relation between commitment and the long‐term orientation of the relationship is not significant. In this way, the more relevant the input is, more important are communication, trust and satisfaction, and the less important is commitment.

Although many studies have analyzed the long‐term orientation of buyer‐seller relationships, very few have considered the influence of the type of product exchanged. And furthermore, no previous works have analyzed the moderating effect of product type on the factors determining this long‐term orientation.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of customers’ perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on affective and continuance commitment. It analyses the moderation effect of relationship age on the CSR-commitment relationships in the banking industry of an emerging economy.

Partial least squares based structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed hypotheses in a sample of 360 respondents collected from the retail banking sector of Pakistan.

Customers’ CSR perceptions directly and positively influence affective and continuance commitment. The findings also confirm that relationship age is a positive moderator of the CSR-continuance commitment relationship, but does not influence the CSR-affective commitment relationship.

Marketers should use CSR activities to enhance customers’ commitment. Given the moderating role of relationship age, marketers should devise different strategies for new and long-term customers. The results clearly show that relationship age affects the CSR-continuance commitment relationship. Long-term banking customers will more likely be in a binding relationship when their banks do CSR activities and disseminate those activities to long-term customers. The study explicitly indicates that maintaining long-term customers’ base through CSR activities helps the marketers in achieving sustainable competitive advantage.

First, it is the pioneering study to empirically investigate the understudied relationship between CSR and continuance commitment. Second, it examines the moderation effect of relationship age on CSR-commitment relationships in the banking industry of an emerging economy.

This study explores a seller’s perspective in business relationships to validate whether the findings reported in previous studies based on buyer business relationships apply to seller business relationships. The purpose of this study is to test whether satisfaction functions as a connector between positive antecedents (trust and commitment) and negative postcedents (opportunism and conflict) in a business-to-business (B2B) relationship, based on a seller perspective.

A descriptive research design was applied and data was collected from Norwegian companies from the database of LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator. Respondents (Sales or Marketing Managers/Directors or Key Account Managers) were asked to identify one main business customer with whom they had interacted in the past year. A total of 213 responses could be used for data analysis. In addition, the measurement and structural models were assessed.

Trust was established as a positive alter ego of opportunism and opportunism as a negative alter ego of trust. The commitment was also determined to be a positive alter ego of conflict, with conflict being a negative alter ego of commitment. Furthermore, it was proven that alter egos are not opposites, but facets of antecedents and postcedents in relation to a connector, satisfaction.

The tested model endorses the hypothesised relationships between trust, commitment, satisfaction, opportunism and conflict in Norwegian B2B relationships. Satisfaction is linked to its two antecedents and its outcomes and the hypothesised relationship between opportunism and conflict is also endorsed from a seller’s perspective in B2B relationships.

The findings can assist the B2B industry to understand how trust and commitment foster satisfaction, how satisfaction influences opportunism and conflict, and how opportunism relates to conflict in a seller-business relationship.

No previous study has focussed on relationship marketing in B2B relationships from a seller’s perspective to establish whether satisfaction functions as a connector between trust and commitment and opportunism and conflict.

The purpose of this paper is to explore brand equity from multiple perspectives (tangible and intangible) and their joint consequences, namely, on industrial buyers’ brand loyalty and their long-term commitment. The aim is to provide a more comprehensive framework of the buyer’s behavioral response in the business-to-business context by integrating both trust elements and industrial brand attributes (brand performance and industrial brand image). In addition, the study explores the mediation effects of trust and brand attributes on industrial buyers’ responses such as loyalty and long-term commitment.

Using a survey approach, the study includes respondents working in the heating, ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC) industry in Malaysia, and data are collected in the industrial air-conditioning segment. The research model was tested with SEM.

Findings show that brand performance and industrial brand image directly affect brand trust but with different effects on buyers’ commitment and loyalty. Interestingly, industrial brand image only mediates the responses via brand trust, while brand performance has a direct effect. Thus, both brand performance and industrial brand image build buyer trust. But in this context, it is brand performance rather than industrial brand image that influences long-term commitment and loyalty. The study concludes that in the HVAC industry, brand performance, industrial brand image, buyer trust, industrial loyalty and commitment build brand equity.

Significant research reveals that, in business-to-business contexts, brand equity depends on the supplier’s brand trust and attributes of the brand such as brand image and brand performance. While useful in guiding a supplier’s or industry’s brand strategy, the study of both brand trust and brand attributes has led to only a partial explanation of the supplier’s or industry’s brand equity. The present research explores industrial brand equity, focussing on tangible assets (performance) and intangible assets (brand image), and their joint consequences.

This study aims to address the absence of a thorough understanding of commitment in tourism public-private partnerships (PPP) by exploring antecedents of PPP commitment and their underpinning relationships in regard to the destination management system (DMS).

An empirical investigation of the case of the Egyptian DMS, a PPP which was forsaken by the government partner and which subsequently failed. Qualitative and quantitative approaches are used for a comprehensive overview of the researched phenomena pertaining to external and internal stakeholders.

The results indicated that stakeholder management, relational capital, perceived benefits and stakeholder capabilities could influence intentions to commit to a tourism PPP project. Also, the latter three factors were found to mediate the relationship between stakeholder management and long-term PPP commitment. The results also shed light on the important aspects of non-contractual, interpersonal relationships between internal and external PPP stakeholders.

This research pioneers inquiries on the commitment of Tourism PPP/DMS projects and its possible drivers in a non-Western context. Also, this study contributes to knowledge by exploring the relationship within and between internal (partners) and external (e.g. local service providers) stakeholder groups and provided evidence on the crucial role of both on long-term PPP commitment and success. The current study has a few significant contributions to the PPP literature regarding the commitment and success of PPP in the complicated environments in which tourism PPP projects are operated. Moreover, this study offers essential information and practices for improving partner relationships with external stakeholders.

本研究通过探讨PPP承诺的前因及其相互关系, 解决了对旅游公私合作伙伴关系（PPP）中的承诺缺乏透彻了解的问题。

经验证据来自埃及目的地管理系统（DMS）的经验, 在这种情况下, 旅游PPP由于公共部门放弃了该项目而失败。采用混合方法来全面理解主题, 分析内部（合作伙伴）和外部（例如旅游提供商）利益相关者的观点。

结果表明, 利益相关者的管理, 关系资本, 可感知的收益和利益相关者的能力可能会影响致力于旅游PPP项目的意图。另外, 发现后三个因素可以调解利益相关者管理与长期PPP承诺之间的关系。结果还阐明了内部和外部PPP利益相关者之间非合同, 人际关系的重要方面。

这是第一个研究旅游PPP/DMS项目的承诺及其在非西方背景下的驱动力的研究。此外, 这项研究还通过探索内部（合作伙伴）与外部（例如本地服务提供商）利益相关者群体之间以及两者之间的关系, 为知识做出了贡献, 并提供了证据证明两者在长期PPP承诺和成功中都发挥着关键作用。当前的研究对PPP文献在PPP在旅游PPP项目运行的复杂环境中的承诺和成功做出了重要贡献。此外, 这项研究提供了必要的信息和实践, 以改善与外部利益相关者的合作伙伴关系。

este estudio aborda la ausencia de una comprensión profunda del compromiso en las asociaciones público-privadas (APP) de turismo al explorar los antecedentes del compromiso de las APP y sus relaciones subyacentes.

la evidencia empírica se deriva de la experiencia del sistema de gestión de destinos (DMS) egipcio, un caso en el que una APP de turismo fracasó debido al abandono del proyecto por parte del sector público. Se adopta un enfoque de métodos mixtos para comprender de manera integral el tema, analizando las perspectivas de los interesados internos (socios) y externos (por ejemplo, proveedores de turismo).

los resultados indicaron que la gestión de las partes interesadas, el capital relacional, los beneficios percibidos y las capacidades de las partes interesadas podrían influir en las intenciones de comprometerse con un proyecto de APP de turismo. Además, se encontró que los últimos tres factores median la relación entre la gestión de las partes interesadas y el compromiso de APP a largo plazo. Los resultados también arrojaron luz sobre los aspectos importantes de las relaciones interpersonales no contractuales entre las partes interesadas internas y externas de las APP.

este es el primer estudio que investiga el compromiso de los proyectos de PPP/DMS de turismo y sus posibles impulsores en un contexto no occidental. Además, este estudio contribuye al conocimiento al explorar la relación dentro y entre los grupos de partes interesadas internos (socios) y externos (por ejemplo, proveedores de servicios locales), y proporcionó evidencia sobre el papel crucial de ambos en el compromiso y el éxito de las APP a largo plazo. El presente estudio tiene algunas contribuciones significativas a la literatura sobre APP con respecto al compromiso y el éxito de las APP en los entornos complicados en los que se operan los proyectos de APP de turismo. Además, este estudio ofrece información y prácticas esenciales para mejorar las relaciones de los socios con las partes interesadas externas.

The advent of retail deregulation (liberalisation) in the United States electricity markets provides the major energy users, for the first time, significant choice in energy procurement. With choice comes responsibility for sorting the wide range of potential services, associated risks and variables in price. As deregulation has progressed, the emerging market has not yet reached maturity for retail customers, resulting in significant price volatility and imbalances in supply in some regions. This paper, presented in the Journal in two parts, of which this is the second, explains the fundamentals of energy choice for commercial and industrial energy users and the criteria to be considered in making long‐term energy commitments.

There are many factors which may influence the ability of wineries to build and maintain long‐term relationships (LTR) with their suppliers of grapes. The aim of this paper is to identify the most important factors which enhance LTR between Australian wineries and grape growers.

A qualitative in‐depth interview technique was employed with 13 Australian grape growers.

The relational dimensions of communication, goal compatibility and use of power were found to influence the relationship quality dimensions of trust and satisfaction, which are also linked to the level of commitment and hence long‐term relationship.

The Australian wine industry is currently suffering economic instability which has resulted in the demise of some relationships between grape growers and winemakers. However, economic misfortunes will no doubt change and inefficiencies will result if LTR are not maintained. These inefficiencies could prove detrimental as the Australian wine industry strives to produce regionally branded and higher quality wine products which are both grape grower derived element. Furthermore, issues related to communication frequency and reduction in trust have implications for communication strategies which may result in the reduction of winery grower liaison staff.

This paper offers a grape/grower‐winery perspective on buyer‐seller relationships. It moderates the theory on communication and its effect on trust and commitment. Furthermore it posits the issue of buyer size on relational dimension and outcomes, which has had little attention in the literature.