Paper info

SUPPLIER-CUSTOMER COOPERATION, RELATIONSHIP DEVELOPMENT AND SUPPLIER'S PROFITABILITY

Jukka Vesalainen and Marko Kohtamäki

The paper was published at the 25th IMP-conference in Marseille, France in 2009.

By focusing on the effects of relational capital, relationship structures and suppliers' relationship specific investments on customer relationship development and also on the effect of customer relationship development on suppliers' profitability, the study contributes to the discussion on the benefits of networking in an industrial setting. The study analyses a quantitative dataset of 84 small and medium-sized subcontractors and their 252 customer-relationships. The results show 1) the direct effects of relational capital and relationship specific investments on relationship development, 2) the interaction effect between relationship structures and relational capital and 3) the impact of relationship development on suppliers' profitability.