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Several studies have focused on the development of relationships between buyers and sellers; however, we still have a limited understanding of the interaction processes of the relationships between competitors over time. This paper aims to explore the development of relationships between competitors adopting an interaction and network approach.

This study examines nine relationships between competitors that are part of two multi-actor alliances in the pharmaceutical industry. The study builds on nine longitudinal case studies supported by 24 in-depth interviews.

The findings reveal that the development of the relationships between competitors within the alliances comprises exchange and coordination processes. The cases show that relationship development is a “never-ending process” within the alliance that includes five phases: co-existence, formation, development, dormancy and dissolution. A third party is identified as having a catalyst role in relationship development.

Supported by a comprehensive literature review on relationship development models, this study highlights the value of applying an interaction and network approach for studying relationships between competitors.

This study examines what is the significance of the features of inter-organizational relationships in consecutive phases of the relationship life cycle.

Qu antitative, large-scale surveying was run on 786 software developers operating in Poland. The research hypothesis regarding the systematic increase of relational features (i.e. commitment, communication, (lack of) conflict, cooperation, intensity, investments, longevity, multidimensionality of bonds, trust, and velocity) across the particular relationship life cycle phase le (i.e. initial, development, maintenance, dormant/end, and reactivation) was verified using ANOVA and post-hoc tests.

The results show that the majority of considered features of inter-organizational relationships non-significantly but progressively strengthen from the initial phase, through the development phase, to the maintenance phase, then significantly weaken in the dormant/end phase and strengthen again in the reactivation phase. Interestingly, velocity–as the only examined feature–significantly increases in dormant/end and then decreases if the relationship is reactivated.

Prior studies were focusing on single feature, this one offers a holistic view considering ten relational facets. Moreover, this is one of the few research studies exploring the changes of relational features adopting the life cycle perspective.

This paper aims to explore how relational constructs (total interdependence, trust, commitment, cooperative norms and conflict) impact the buyer's relationship satisfaction across the relationship lifecycle.

Data were collected through mail survey from a sample of 162 Australian buyers. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to purify the measurement scales and multiple regression analysis techniques using dummy variables were used to test the hypotheses.

The results indicate that interdependence and trust are associated with higher relationship satisfaction in the build‐up and maturity phases while commitment is associated with higher relationship satisfaction in the maturity phase. Unexpectedly, cooperative norms are found to drive relationship satisfaction in both the build‐up and maturity phases. Conflict, however, is not found to affect relationship satisfaction in the decline/deterioration phase.

A limitation of this study is the unequal sample size in each of the relationship phases. It would be desirable to run a model consisting of the five relational constructs for each of the three phases.

Literature has suggested that the effects of relational constructs on outcomes vary across relationship phases. While this notion has been established theoretically, there has been little attempt to measure it empirically. This paper provides an empirical test of the important, yet unexplored, question of how different relational constructs have different effects on buyer satisfaction depending upon the relationship phase.

Companies operate in a highly competitive climate and offer a wide variety of new products and services to both individuals and business firms. Today, companies find themselves facing more aggressive competition, uncertain market conditions, and unlimited opportunities. Managers and marketers have witnessed that they have to respond and must change the way they do business with other companies. This new environment has led managers and marketers to realize that they must change and restructure the way of establishing and maintaining ongoing business relationships. The paper provides a different perspective. It analyses the process of establishment and development of a strategic business relationship over time by considering the life cycle and stages of this relationship. The paper also describes the evolution of strategic business relationships as a relation between people or as a love affair and a commitment to marriage which is ideally based on shared interest, love, mutual trustworthiness, and commitment to continue the relationship. It also provides some strategic and managerial implications.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to debates about the relationship between trust and control in the governance of inter-organisational relationships. In particular, the authors focus on the question of how the relationship between trust and control shifts over time.

An in-depth case study was conducted in a company operating in the aerospace industry. The authors aim to understand this company’s practices and, at the same time, to use the case study to deepen the knowledge of the complex trust/control nexus. The authors follow the changes in the relationship between trust and control as the company restructured its supply chain, and discuss issues which it had to address in the later phases of the supply chain restructuring.

The paper illustrates the duality of the trust/control nexus. The authors show how the studied company coped with the complex relationships with its suppliers as collaboration increased. The authors identify particular control mechanisms that the company developed to manage such complexity, such as a supplier strategy and a relationship profile tool.

The paper studies supply chain restructuring and the changing relationship of trust and control over time only from the perspective of the assembler/manufacturer which “owns”/manages the supply chain.

The authors observe a move from inter-personal trust to inter-organisational trust. Furthermore, the authors illustrate how managers can intervene to maintain and stabilise trust and ensure that trust and control do not degrade or escalate beyond desirable levels.

The purpose of this paper is to reveal how trust develops between partner firms in the context of intercultural business relationships and how understanding of the business culture of a partner firm and adaptation to it can be a driving force for the beginning and maintaining of trust development with that partner.

The study is of a qualitative nature and employs “elite interviewing” methodology for the aims of data collection. The analysis is conducted through theoretically‐informed reading of interviews.

Managers constantly learn the business culture of the partner through interactions. Adaptation based on the acquired business culture knowledge is found to be as important for the development of trust between business relationships' parties. A “moderate” level of cultural adaptation is identified as most favourable for this development. Additionally, a categorization of cultural adaptation within business relationships is proposed.

The insufficient number of personal interviews within a specific industrial context does not allow a generalisation of the study outcomes.

Research which addresses the importance of cultural adaptation for trust development within business relationships, is scarce. This study attempts to fill in this gap. Furthermore, it shows the need to consider business culture, rather than national culture, while studying business relationships. Finally, the study provides interesting avenues for further research.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how business-to-business (B2B), intercultural, interpersonal salesperson–customer relationships develop using the lens of identity management theory (IMT; Imahori and Cupach, 2005).

The research uses qualitative semi-structured interviews on 18 targeted relationships with customers from another culture conducted with business-to-business salespeople.

The findings indicate that our respondents' relationships moved from trial toward enmeshment and on occasion toward the renegotiation phase, as described in IMT. In the case of low cultural diversity between salesperson and customer, the relationships reached the trial and enmeshment phase. In the case of high cultural diversity between salesperson and customer, the relationships on occasion evolved toward the renegotiation phase. Salespeople's cultural intelligence (CQ) facilitates the development of interpersonal, intercultural salesperson–customer relationships.

The authors transfer IMT from the personal relationship development arena to B2B intercultural, interpersonal relationships, address a gap in the literature in the understanding of salesperson–customer interpersonal relationships in different contexts and develop a theoretical model to understand intercultural, interpersonal salesperson–customer relationship development across different levels of cultural diversity.

This chapter discusses how attachment theory, a theory that provides insight into the processes through which psychological and emotional bonds are developed in relationships, can be useful for understanding mentoring relationships. We develop a conceptual model emphasizing how attachment-related constructs and their relationships with mentors’ and protégés’ behaviors and emotions influence each phase of a mentoring relationship. Recognizing reciprocity in the mentoring process, the model also explains how the interpersonal dynamics of the mentor–protégé relationship influence the benefits gained by both partners. Propositions for future research on mentoring relationships are provided. We contend that examining mentoring through the lens of attachment theory can increase our understanding of the underlying factors or mechanisms that determine individuals’ involvement in mentoring relationships and differentiate successful from unsuccessful mentoring relationships. The research and practical implications are discussed.

The evolution of the business-to-business (BtoB) realm toward solution business calls for a better understanding of how relationships develop over time in such a renewed context. This paper aims to propose a phase model for solution relationship development, considering triadic relationships in complex engineering solutions.

To depict how relationships develop in solution business, the authors adopt a qualitative approach which allows to detail the episodes of interactions between the actors. A case study approach in an extreme sector – the aerospace industry – allows highlighting certain key traits. Extending conventional dyadic analysis, this empirical study focuses on the aerospace industry, using a case study approach to analyze relationship developments between a worldwide leading aircraft manufacturer, one of its customer and four providers of products and services. The authors adopt a triadic perspective in the selection of cases, considering a total of four manufacturer-provider-customer triads.

Four dynamic phases which track solution provision dynamics and involving dyadic and triadic relationship evolution are identified: matching; combining; mixing; and sharing. Each phase calls, from a management perspective, for specific competencies and resources of the actors in interaction.

This paper contributes to the gap about solution relationship development in a changing BtoB landscape. Considering the lens of a triadic approach, the paper also helps to fill the as-yet unattended to gap between dyads and triads in the literature.