Building Long-Term Buyer-Seller Relationships in Food Chains
Peter Batt2003
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Abstract
Building on the extent literature of buyer-seller relationships, we develop a model that describes the relationship building process. Starting from the suppliers offer quality, we demonstrate how relational satisfaction leads to trust and the customers desire to maintain the relationship. These variables are examined in relation to the situational factors (dependence and the exchange partners willingness to make idiosyncratic investments).
Key takeaways
- According to the disconfirmation of expectations model, customer satisfaction is the result of a comparison between performance and the focal firm's expectations (Oliver 1980).
- Trust also relates to the focal firm's intention to rely on their exchange partner.
- However, trust between firms does not occur automatically.
- Firms that trust their partner are more committed to their relationship (Anderson and Narus 1990;Morgan and Hunt 1994;Gundlach et al 1995).
- However, it is the firm's perception of its dependence relative to its partner that is of most interest in channel relationships.
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