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To overcome the limitations of applying trust in interorganizational relationships, this paper aims to investigate the significant role of interorganizational reliance in business relationships and develop an original scale to measure this new construct.

A total of 20 in‐depth interviews with buying firms were conducted in the UK construction industry. The contents of the interviews were analyzed with NVivo to examine the rational standards underlying the buyer‐supplier exchange relationship.

Trust is a relevant but not in itself a sufficient condition for the development and sustaining of buyer‐supplier relationships. The objective rationality requires that business relationships are centred on organizational needs and benefits which necessitate the rational standard of interorganizational reliance. Reliance remains to be central in business relationships despite low or lack of trust.

Focusing on the construction industry, this paper evaluates the current status of trust and develops an understanding of interorganizational reliance in business relationships.

The generic use of the term of trust has obscured the meaning and significance of reliance in business relationships. Marketing researchers should put necessary attention and efforts to explore the distinct features and effects of reliance in exchange relationships between organizations.

The paper empirically examines the deficiencies in trust, and demonstrates the significance of reliance in buyer‐supplier relationships. An original measure for the new construct of reliance is also developed through interviews with key informants.

There is conflicting evidence of the extent to which business relationships in the UK construction industry are based on trust between closely collaborating parties or alternatively are more adversarial in nature, based on dependence between the parties. This study seeks to provide empirical evidence about the effects of trust and dependence in business relationships in this industry.

A large quantitative survey was conducted with buying firms, resulting in a total of 636 usable responses from 404 firms to test a model using structural equation modelling. The authors test the extent to which trust and dependence act as antecedents to four dimensions identified from the literature as being important determinants of relationship quality: commitment, communication, satisfaction, and long‐term orientation.

The results provide good evidence for the hypotheses in the authors' model: relational characteristics associated with relationship quality are mainly driven by the interpersonal trust between buyers and their suppliers. Interorganisational dependence, evidence of more adversarial relationships, has either no direct impact on relational consequences or at best far less impact than trust.

This research substantiates trust as a key factor influencing relational characteristics associated with relationship quality in the UK construction industry. The findings confirm the earlier work in this industry that trust is an important strategic tool in supplier relationship management.

This paper describes the experience of a globally distributed organization, as simulated across three MBA programs. The students, located in each of three countries, worked collaboratively in teams to create a common project, using technology as a means of communication. Observations were made of local team interaction, as well as the intergroup exchange that came about from merging the local teams into a larger global team. The project revealed some weaknesses in technology as a communication tool, as compared to face‐to‐face interaction. Nevertheless, the findings support traditional group theories ‐ theories developed through observation of face‐to‐face groups. The existence of mutual accountability and evaluation, superordinate goals, and the tone of the initial group meeting were found to be key for successful task completion and group satisfaction. Building a team in a virtual setting was found to be more difficult than in a face‐to‐face environment, but not impossible. Team‐building factors that might be implied in a local arrangement, had to be made explicit in the virtual setting, as opportunities did not exist for clarifying intentions outside of the meeting place. Additional experience in using the technology as a means of communication should reinforce this need for clarity, as managers become accustomed to fewer opportunities for communicating implications.