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is an associate professor at Oslo School of Management, Norway. He holds a Dr Oecon (PhD) at Norwegian School of Management BI. He has a background as an entrepreneur and from management and board positions within telecommunication industry. His research agenda consists of various subjects within inter-fi rm relationships, such as: governance of foreign collaborative partners, co-ordination and cooperation, relationship management, relationship quality and relationship climate. Anders Billstr ö mis a doctoral student at Halmstad University, Sweden. His research interest include business-to-business relationships. ABSTRACT This article develops a conceptual foundation for Conscientious Corporate Brands (CCBs) by exploring the role that (i) environmental and (ii) climate change issues, and that (iii) internal and (iv) external corporate codes of ethics play as dimensions of CCBs. The article ' s aim is to extend previous research in ethical branding by proposing an empirically grounded conceptual foundation of ' the conscientious dimension ' of a corporate brand. The empirical context is based onNordic business-to-business relationships.

PurposeThis study seeks to examine the key role of opportunism in business relationships relative to environment uncertainty (i.e. competitive intensity and market turbulence), bonding structure (i.e. specific assets and dependence), and relationship quality (i.e. trust and commitment).Design/methodology/approachInitially, informants were contacted by phone and a total of 581 surveys were mailed to small‐ and medium‐sized manufacturers asking them to answer questions about their suppliers. In total, 212 surveys were returned generating a response rate of 36.5 percent. To test the measurement properties and hypothesized relationships between the constructs in focus, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling were used.FindingsThe results supported all six hypotheses. The principal findings are competitive intensity leads to market turbulence and market turbulence, in turn, is positively associated with opportunism; specific assets leads to dependence and dependence is, in turn, positively associated with opportunism; and supplier opportunism is negatively associated with both trust and commitment.Research limitations/implicationsThe research model tests a sample of business relationships between small‐ and medium‐sized manufacturers and their suppliers in Norway. Findings may not be generalized to larger companies in other countries.Practical implicationsThe results are of interest to manufacturing executives since they provide a framework of contextual variables and relational characteristics that need to be considered in corporate efforts to control supplier opportunism.Originality/valueThis study is unique in testing key constructs of two important theories of business marketing – transaction cost analysis and social exchange theory (i.e. relationship quality) rarely, if ever, used in the same empirical study.

PurposeThis study includes relationship marketing concepts (i.e. trust, commitment, and satisfaction) as precursors to transaction cost theory outcomes (i.e. specific investments, opportunism, and formalization) which are rarely, if ever, included together. Trust and commitment lead to satisfaction and satisfaction in turn leads transaction cost outcomes. The paper aims to address these issues.Design/methodology/approachThe random sample is 600 small‐ to medium‐sized Norwegian manufacturers. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling was used to examine the responses from 212 key informants.FindingsThe strongest positive associations are from the relationship marketing portion of the model including trust satisfaction and commitment satisfaction. The highest negative association in the model is satisfaction opportunism. Contrary to predictions, satisfaction did not have a significant association with either specific investments or formalization.Research limitations/implicationsBoth relationship marketing and transaction cost theory concepts are examined because it is likely that business success may be motivated by both theories. Limitations of the study are that it only includes small‐ and medium‐sized companies in Norway. Second, it does not cover all business‐to‐business relationships (i.e. only manufacturer‐supplier relationships are included). Finally, additional concepts should be included (i.e. dependence, cooperation, and control).Practical implicationsThe results suggest that managers should work developing high levels of satisfaction in business relationships to dampen the likelihood that business partners will be opportunistic. In this regard, working on a relationship serves as a safeguard against possible future risks (e.g. opportunism).Originality/valueThis study is a seed for future research about the causes and outcomes of satisfaction in business relationships.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to test a measurement model of a META-RELQUAL construct. Design/methodology/approach -This study is based upon a survey and random sample of smalland medium-sized companies in Norway. Respondents were contacted by phone and a total of 581 surveys were mailed. In total, 212 surveys were returned generating a response rate of 36.5 percent. Findings -The goodness-of-fit measures of the tested measurement model of the META-RELQUAL construct were all found to be within the recommended guidelines. The recommended guidelines for convergent, discriminant and nomological validity, as well as construct reliability, were all met. It is concluded that the measurement properties of the META-RELQUAL construct applied in Norwegian manufacturer-supplier relationships indicate acceptable validity and reliability.Research limitations/implications -The tested META-RELQUAL construct appears to be accurate for those Norwegian business relationships studied, but only further testing in other companies will verify its universal application if it is to be seen as a valid and reliable measurement for other companies' business relationships too. Suggestions for further research are provided. Practical implications -This study is of managerial interest to executives since it provides a framework of constructs to be considered in corporate efforts in maintaining satisfactory levels of relationship quality in business relationships. Originality/value -The META-RELQUAL construct makes a contribution to theory since it outlines a higher order construct and measurement instrument for the benefit of other researchers and practitioners in the field.