No abstract

Marketing managers must know the time orientation of a customer to select and use marketing tools that correspond to the time horizons of the customer. Insufficient understanding of a customer's time orientation can lead to problems, such as attempting a relationship marketing when transaction marketing is more appropriate. The author suggests that long-term orientation in a buyer/seller relationship is a function of two main factors: mutual dependence and the extent to which they trust one another. Dependence and trust are related to environmental uncertainty, transaction-specific investments, reputation, and satisfaction in a buyer/seller relationship. The framework presented here is tested with 124 retail buyers and 52 vendors supplying to those retailers. The results indicate that trust and dependence play key roles in determining the long-term orientation of both retail buyers and their vendors. The results also indicate that both similarities and differences exist across retailers and vendors with respect to the effects of several variables on long-term orientation, dependence, and trust.

Powerful suppliers often require retailers to make significant idiosyncratic investments to improve coordination between organizations and to enhance the supplier's presence in the end market. The authors examine how a retailer might better manage the hold-up potential of these transaction-specific investments (TSIs) through the use of three control mechanisms: supplier's TSIs, the development of relational norms, and the use of explicit contracts. Moreover, the authors consider the time-dependent nature of these mechanisms by observing their effects on commitment over the course of a relationship life cycle. The results indicate that (1) a retailer's TSIs have a negative effect on its perceptions of supplier commitment; (2) a supplier's TSIs and relational norms increase the retailer's perception of supplier commitment, whereas explicit contracts are associated with perceptions of lower supplier commitment; and (3) each of the three control mechanisms moderates the negative impact of retailer investments on perceptions of supplier commitment contingent on the relationship phase. Specifically, bilateral TSIs enhance commitment in the exploration phase and a positive effect during the decline phase. The results also indicate that the retailer's perceptions of supplier commitment are positively related to its evaluation of supplier performance and satisfaction and negatively related to conflict.