Analyzing Customer-Orientation Practices of Firms From A Wider Perspective

This article was downloaded by: [Romanian Ministry Consortium] On: 2 March 2010 Access details: Access Details:
[subscription number 918910197] Publisher Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 3741 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK
Journal of Business To Business Marketing
Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t792303971
Analyzing Customer-Orientation Practices of Firms from a Wider Perspective
Gabriel Baffour Awuah a a Associate Professor in Marketing, School of Business and Engineering, Halmstad University, Halmstad, Sweden
To cite this Article Awuah, Gabriel Baffour(2008) 'Analyzing Customer-Orientation Practices of Firms from a Wider
Perspective', Journal of Business To Business Marketing, 15: 1, 45 72 To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/15470620801946702 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15470620801946702
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.informaworld.com/terms-and-conditions-of-access.pdf This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, re-distribution, re-selling, loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material.
1547-0628 WBBM Journal of Business-to-Business Business-To-BusinessMarketing Marketing, Vol. 15, No. 1, Mar 2008: pp. 00
Analyzing Customer-Orientation Practices of Firms from a Wider Perspective

Gabriel Baffour Awuah
Gabriel Baffour JOURNAL OF BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS Awuah MARKETING
Downloaded By: [Romanian Ministry Consortium] At: 19:56 2 March 2010
ABSTRACT. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to deepen our

understanding of the extent to which a firms customer orientation practice, and the outcome thereof, is affected by its network of exchange relationships. Methodology/Approach: Building on a network approach, multiple case studies are used to highlight firms customer-orientation and the effects thereof. Findings: Close, regular and extensive interaction and exchanges with customers and third parties have enabled each of the firms in this study to win and retain important customers over the years. Research Implications/Limitations: Each of the PSFs (professional services firms) customer orientation, with its concomitant result, has been facilitated by mutual value creation by the sellers and the buyers plus the sellers exchange relationships with third parties. However, customers interconnected relationships and a broader quantitative study incorporating several services firms need be explored in further studies. Originality/Value/Contribution: The study provides insights into how a PSF utilizes its own capabilities and complementary capabilities from third parties to create superior value and satisfaction to customers. Gabriel Baffour Awuah (E-mail: Gabriel.Awuah@set.hh.se), PhD, is Associate Professor in Marketing, School of Business and Engineering, Halmstad University, P.O. Box 823, SE-301 18 Halmstad, Sweden. The author owes a great debt of gratitude to all, including the anonymous reviewers, who read and offered valuable comments on the earlier drafts of this manuscript, and the respondents in the three firms, which provided information for this study.The author acknowledges the research support, which the Scandinavian Institute for Research in Entrepreneurship (SIRE) at the Halmstad University, Sweden, provided for this study. Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing, Vol. 15(1) 2008 Available online at http://jbbm.haworthpress.com 2008 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1080/15470620801946702
45
46
JOURNAL OF BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS MARKETING
KEYWORDS. Customer-orientation, network of exchange relationships,

PSFs, third parties
INTRODUCTION
Central to the studies of customer-orientation, also mostly taken to mean customer-led business activities and market orientation (Brady and Cronin 2001), is for the firm and its entire personnel to place the customer need satisfaction in the centre of its business endeavours (Doyle 2002; Doyle and Stern 2006). Drawing on the work of Jaworski and Kohli (1990) many researchers write that a market-orientation approach allows a firm to perform better than its rivals in the marketplace (Brady and Cronin 2001; Dadzie and Winston 2002; Karvinen and Bennett 2006; Joshi and Thakor 2003). For a customer orientation, the underlying assumption is that the customer-oriented firms outperform competitors by anticipating the development needs of consumers (i.e., by learning) and responding with goods and services, which create superior value and greater satisfaction to customers (Doyle and Wong 1998; Brady and Cronin 2001). For Brady and Cronin (2001, p. 241) being customer oriented allows firms to acquire and assimilate the information necessary to design and execute marketing strategies that result in more favourable customer outcomes. For a firm to survive, succeed, and build a sustainable competitive advantage over its rivals, management must get the entire organization to understand the importance for all personnel to contribute towards customer needs satisfaction (Doyle and Stern 2006). Without any intention to complicate the thrust of customer-orientation approach, because it can mean different or the same as other concepts such as market orientation, market driven, and customer focused, as Brady and Cronin (2001, p. 241) have found out in the literature, we will, in this study, add that customer-orientation discourse should embody the wider network context, in which the seller-customer interface occurs (Hkansson and Snehota 1989; Gummesson 2002, p. 40). In the light of the above, the purpose of this present study is to deepen our understanding of the extent to which a firms customer-orientation practice is affected by the firms network of exchange relationships. The selling firms performance, as the result of its customer orientation, cannot be seen in isolation. In so doing, we complement the existing literature, which seems to only stress that customers need satisfaction will demand that a total company effort (internal efforts) should be geared towards a superior value creation for customers; it is an internal effort, the results of
47
which cannot be matched by any competitive offers (Bennet and Karvinen 2006; Joshi and Thakor 2002; Halliday 2002; Doyle and Wong 1998). The germane questions, to which we seek answers, will be (1) how does a firms customer orientation look like, seen from a services providers perspective? And (2) why and how does a firms interaction with third parties (its network actors) affect the firms customer-orientation practice and hence its performance? The rest of the paper will proceed as follows. The next section deals with the literature review, followed by the theoretical framework and the methodology. Thereafter empirical studies are presented followed by the analysis, conclusion and the implication(s) of the study. Suggestion for future research comes last.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Much of the literature on market orientation (Brady and Cronin 2001; Dazie and Winston 2002; Ranchold and Singh 2003; Aldas-Manzano et al. 2005; Karvinen and Bennett 2006) have all based their studies on the pioneering work done by Jaworski and Kohli (1990) and (Narver and Slater 1993), a marketing orientation and its effects on business performance. Three important activities are said to derive from the pioneering work done by the authors cited above (Doyle and Wong 1998). Thus, market orientation consists in the performance of the following sets of activities (p. 517): (1) Organization- wide generation of market intelligence about current and future customer needs; (2) Dissemination of the intelligence across departments; and (3) organization-wide responsiveness to it. Building on the market orientation, a number of studies have emerged such as how a companys performance can be improved by integrating internal and external customers and technology (Karvinen and Bennet 2006), the relationship between market orientation and business performance (Ranchold and Singh 2003), and investigating the effects of the salespersons affective evaluation of job on customer orientation (Joshi and Thakor 2003). None of the above studies go beyond the seller - buyer interface to investigate the extent to which third parties affect the envisaged outcome, when using the market orientation philosophy. Studies that focus on customer orientation (Brady and Cronin 2001; Joshi and Thakor 2002; Doyle and Stern 2006; Bennett and Karvinen 2006) also tend to dispense with the investigation of a firms network context when it comes to its customer orientation practice.
48
In the customer orientation literature a firms survival, success and the building of sustainable competitive advantage is seen to depend upon how well the organization gets the entire personnel to understand the importance of having a customer focus and contributing towards their satisfaction more than competitors can do (Doyle and Stern 2006). Equally important is for the organization to have structures and systems that enable, especially, front-line personnel to be motivated and empowered to provide superior value to customers, having customer satisfaction as an ultimate goal (Doyle and Stern 2006, pp45 47; Bennett and Karvinen 2006). Due to the general characteristics of services, such as intangibility, variability, perishability and inseparability, it is stressed in the literature that the simultaneous presence of a buyer and a seller of services, especially professional ones, is very essential. During such an interaction the development of a relationship between the seller and the customer becomes inevitable (Ford 1990; Grnroos 1990; Gummesson 2002; Berry and Parasuraman 1991; Edvardsson and Larsson 2004; Brady and Cronin 2001). However, studies of services firms customer orientation are very scanty in the literature. This makes Brady and Cronins (2001) study very interesting. For Brady and Cronin (2001), the question regarding the extent to which a customer-oriented service firm benefits from its customer focus, either directly or indirectly, remains unknown. Hence, there exists a critical gap in the literature if managers and researchers are to understand the benefits gained from implementing customer-oriented strategies (p. 241). Brady and Cronins study (2001) reveals that a customer-oriented firm is perceived by customers as having better quality physical goods and employee performance. Moreover, the initial reward for being customer oriented is found out to be favourable customer evaluations of employee performance, physical goods, and servicescapes (p.248). This is an interesting study, but the study does not address the embeddeness of firms (also services firms) in a network of exchange relationships, which affect their performance. Studying services firmscustomer interface from the customers perspective, and not as an interactive process, has been questioned in the literature (e.g. Svensson 2006). Traditionally, research into service encounters has been based on the perspective of the service receiver . . . In summary, service encounters have thus been largely researched as a non-interactive phenomenon (i.e. based mostly upon one perspective). This means that the complexity of the dynamics of the constructs underlying doings, actions, and reactions have not been sufficiently explored (Svensson 2006, p.245). In the present study, we focus on
49
a services firms customer orientation, emphasizing the interacting process and how that is influenced by the services firms wider network context.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK The Network Approach

A basic assumption of the network approach is that actors (e.g., firms/ organizations, and individuals), which own heterogeneous resources and perform varied activities do establish exchange relationships with other actors thereby gaining access to each others complementary resources (Hkansson 1982, 1987; Hammarkvist et al. 1982; Hgg and Johanson 1982; Hkansson and Snehota 1995). As the actors in interaction develop strong bonds, with their complementary resources tied together and their complementary activities linked with each other, the interaction between them becomes more frequent and also mutually meaningful to them (Gumesson 2002; Hkansson and Snehota 1995), a development that leads to a strong interdependent exchange relationships among them. The interdependence between the actors in interaction produces a number of benefits for the actors; namely, the actors engage in mutual learning (Ford et al. 1986; Havila et al. 1999; Tzokas and Saren 2004) and mutual adaptations (Hkansson 1982; Hgg and Johanson 1982; Ford 1997). When actors in interaction complement each other through their resources that are tied together and their activities that are linked with each other (Hkansson and Snehota 1995; Gummesson 2002), their interdependent relationship then needs be mutually managed (Hkansson and Snehota 1995; Anderson and Narus 2004). Hence, the activation and integration of their interdependent resources or activities will be a mutual undertaking rather than a single actor undertaking (Hkansson 1987; Hkansson and Snehota 1995). For Gummesson (2002), a selling firm and a buying firm develops a relationship, which is characterized by a two-way dialogue and a continuous learning and adaptation. The adaptations, which the actors mutually undertake may be in the form of products/services, routines, rules of conduct, attitudes, production processes, administrative changes and logistics (Hkansson and Snehota 1995; Ford 1997; Gummesson 2002). Since exchange relationships between any focal actors have been found to be interconnected (Cook and Emersson 1978; Ford 1997; Hkansson and Snehota 1995; Holmlund 2004), a firms customer-orientation practice, with the ultimate goal of satisfying the
50
customer better than any competitor can do, will also be a function of how well the focal firms handle their interconnected exchange relationships (Anderson et al. 1994; Hkansson and Snehota 1995; Fruin 2001; Tokas and Saren 2004). Thus, any focal actors (a selling firm and a buying firm) exchange relationship with each other is contingent, positively or negatively, upon exchange in other exchange relationships, in which they are involved. As Hkansson and Snehota (1995, p. 11) assert, a firms market performance will be a function of its relationships to others; thus, its sales volume, market shares, profit and growth, for example, will depend on how the firm handles its relationships. The need for a services firm to have strong customer relationships has been stressed in the literature (Mercer 1993; Berry and Parasuraman 1991; Normann 1991; Grnroos 1990). Due to the characteristics of services, making it difficult to have some objective measures for evaluating services before purchase, for example, the need for strong suppliercustomer relationships should be seriously considered. But, these strong suppliercustomer relationships would need to be considered in the context of the firms entire network of exchange relationships (Hkansson and Snehota 1995; Axelsson 1996; Gummesson 2002). As Gummesson posits, if not, the customersupplier relationship will just hover among the clouds and never touch the ground of reality (2002, p. 40). Another important feature, which is inherent in the regular interaction between interdependent actors, is the social exchange they engage in (Ford 1997; Gummesson 2002; Hkansson 1982; Hammarkvist et al. 1982). Through the social exchange, the actors in interaction increase their knowledge of each other. It also contributes greatly to the cooperation, understanding and the trust (Hunt and Morgan 1994), which strengthen the various bonds between the firms, for which they work (Hammarkvist et al. 1982; Johanson et al. 1994). However, it is not uncommon to have a simultaneous presence of common and conflicting interests in any exchange relationship (Burt 1982; Hkansson 1987). All this suggests that the learning and the adaptation inherent in exchange relationships between interdependent actors will need to be mutually handled. For Gummesson (2002), actors that aspire to have a win-win exchange relationship will have to be mutually responsible for the success of the relationship. As interacting parties mutually create and share value among them, they are apt to continue to have relationships (Anderson and Narus 2004). As Hkansson and Snehota (1995) state, the age of a relationship is a prerequisite for a more extensive use of the relationship by the parties
51
involved and of its continuity being a precondition for change and development (p. 7). Hence, every relationship has a history (Snehota 1990). The above theoretical framework will serve as our analytical tool, as we analyze customer-orientation practices of three professional firms from a wider perspective.
METHODOLGY
The attempt to deepen understanding and/or knowledge regarding the extent to which a firms customer-orientation practice and the effects thereof is affected by third parties, has demanded the use of a non-positivistic approach instead of a positivistic one (Hyde 2000; Bryman 1989; Ghauri and Gronhaug 2005). This is because the approach allows an in-depth study of a complex phenomenon, such as the present study, from a holistic perspective (Gummesson 2003; Lincoln and Gube 2000; Birn et al. 1990; Bryman 2002). Since we are dealing with an under-researched area that demands an in-depth study (Doyle and Wong 1998; Yin 1989, 1994; Bryman 1989; Lincoln and Guba 2000; Gummesson 2003) a qualitative method based on case studies was found to be appropriate and used as the result. With the case study method, it was deemed appropriate to conduct multiple-case studies (Yin 1994), studying firms from different industries; this approach offers evidence which is considered more compelling and robust (Yin 1994, p. 29). The firms included in this study were identified and drawn from their respective Web sites. The firms in our sample had to meet certain criteria in order to be included in the study. (1) Professional services firms (PSFs) that deliver no tangible products but intangible ones to, mostly, other firms and organizations. (2) Should be a PSF whose personnel are qualified and skilful to provide advice and solutions to clients based on clients needs; thus, the PSF should be centred on customer needs satisfaction (see, e.g., Ford 1997; Armstrong et al. 2005). (3) The firms should be willing to participate in the study. These criteria helped us to select the firms we have in our sample. That we have chosen to study PSFs has to do with the fact that the literature seems to be silent on PSFs customer orientation practice. More studies are needed in this area, as can be deduced from Brady and Cronin also: The service literature is replete with references to the importance of developing a customer orientation (2001, p. 244). Even if studies (Bennett and Karvinen 2006; Halliday 2002; Joshi and Thakor
52
2002; Brady and Cronin 2001) are now emerging to address the phenomenon at hand, they all seem to focus on the customer-orientation practice as an internal undertaking, in which a firm and its skilful, motivated and wellinformed personnel, are involved. How third parties affect a supplier-customer orientation has not been addressed. This gap is what we intend to help close. In all 10 professional services firms were contacted to solicit for their participation in our research; we asked for their acceptance and whom to approach for personal interviews at some appointed date. We were directed to arrange and hold interview (s) with some key informant or respondent, who was judged to be knowledgeable in his/her firms exchange relationships with some important customers as well as their relationships with some significant actors in their network of exchange relationships. On the average it took three months to get an appropriate respondent and a confirmed date for interviews in each of our firms. The process of selecting firms (see Ghauri and Gronhaug 2002, p. 176, for this challenge) and the respondents was time consuming and demanded much patience; this limitation, the time that was available for the study and the financial resources for travelling and other practical matters played a major role in the final sample of firms in our study. Eventually, only four firms responded positively, expressing their willingness to participate in our study. Each firm chose a competent respondent and a date for interviews also. In the final analysis, we decided, because of some practical issues, to process the information obtained from only three of the firms that were interviewed. The three firms in this study are (1) Halmstad Reklambyr (HSTD), an advertising firm, (2) Albihns AB, a legal firm, and (3) Hagstmer & Qviberg (H&Q), a securities brokerage company. In appendix 1, Table A1, we present the sample characteristics of firms in this study. We held interviews with the various respondents at their respective offices in September, 2005. All interviews were tape-recorded. These and some written notes taken, during the interviews, have been kept. The average time for an interview was two hours. That enabled the interviewer and the interviewee to have enough time to run through the loosely structured interview guide, making it possible to explain or correct misunderstandings. All respondents were sent draft copies of the interviews held with them in December 2005, for comments and/or changes. The objective for sending the draft copies was to secure the validity and genuineness of the study (Bryman 1989; Kidder and Judd 1986; Ghauri and Gronghaug 2005).
53
CUSTOMER-ORIENTATION: EMPIRICAL ILLUSTRATION SUPPLIER-CUSTOMER INTERACTION PROCESSES: COMPLEMENTARY EXCHANGE RELATIONSHIPS The Case of Halmstad Reklambyr (HSTD) Brief Background Information of HSTD
HSTD is a professional advertising firm, selling principally ideas, advice and design of pictures and messages to business customers. Often times, HSTD sells a whole package of services for an advertising campaign, for example. This means that HSTD will be responsible for the ideas, text, pictures and the entire production. Should a customer opt not to buy a whole package of services, HSTD can just provide advice, ideas, design or suggestion of pictures and the customer can get its own media or printing press for help.
Joint Analysis of Customer Needs

At HSTD, every assignment that a customer gives to the former will lead to close and continuous contacts between the supplier and the customer. Here, experts from the buying firm and experts from the selling firm, when an assignment is placed, will have to work together throughout the process of ordering and delivering some solutions. When the experts meet, the seller will give proposals and suggestions after the customer has described its needs and the parties have jointly studied the customers internal and external environment. For advertising campaign, for example, the seller will set on to do some sketches of design, on which the experts from the buying firm give their feedback, accepting the proposal as it is or accepting it with some modifications. They jointly also discuss and agree on terms such as the price, credit terms and their duration, type of purchase (standardized or customized solutions) and the entire roles to be played by each party. In sum, the parties discuss and agree on the needs to be satisfied, the intended budget, the sketching of the entire project by HSTD and the customer has to accept or reject or modify those things. After these preparations the seller and the buyer will remain in contact (using both personal and non-personal means of contacts), where series of exchanges (services, information, financial, and social) take place between them.
54
Mutual and Active Collaboration to Create Value

The regular interactions, which can take place in the selling firms premises or vice versa, enable HSTD to know the customers needs, its problems and interests, and how best to provide value for the customer, drawing on the sellers own capacities and on some external capacities, to which the seller has access. The customer also benefits from the close and regular interactions, which enable the customer to increase its knowledge about the sellers total capabilities and the mutual learning and adaptations that they engage in. Small firms that buy services from HSTD, very often, have difficulties in describing their needs. But, as the parties engage in dialogue and discussions regularly, they mutually learn and jointly agree on how to satisfy the needs of the small customer firms. Knowledge acquired in HSTDs interaction with some big firms can be modified to help some small customers. Big customer firms may have competencies in almost all the activity areas of HSTD, but they may lack one essential thing, creativity, according to the respondent at HSTD. The creativity has to do with the offer of creative pictures and messages that are appealing to some target groups; this creative solutions have been a competitive weapon that has made some big/important firms/organizations (e.g., Erostop, Hallandsposten, Kraft, Landstinget Halland) prefer to do business with HSTD. All important firms buy, on the average, services amounting to 500,000 Swedish Kronor annually. They buy regularly, co-operate very well and are trustful; they are a security for the firms revenue, according to the respondent. And above all, many new customers are won through the positive word of mouth, which the customers spread about HSTD. HSTD and its customers do also have some social relationships; for HSTD, some personnel at the buying firms and some at HSTD have forged personal friendships with each other. They do go for lunch together and attend certain conferences together. This friendship, according to the respondent, helps the interacting parties to build their personal knowledge of each other; it also strengthens the confidence and the trust the parties have in doing business with each other.
Interacting with Third Parties: Value Creation as a Network Issue

HSTD draws on third parties in order to satisfy its own customers. Often, HSTD will go to its customers customers in order to evaluate, for example, the results of some advertising message done for a customer.
55
Interviewing customers customers enables HSTD to understand how its own customer needs are met and how HSTDs solution has been of value to the customer. Very often HSTD will even contract an independent research firm to do this assignment for a fee. To be able to sell a whole package of services to customers, HSTD interacts and/or buys regularly services from some important suppliers, namely, printing press firms, photographing firms, Translation firms, and mass media (radio, news papers, and television firms). For HSTD, the quality and the timely delivery of the various suppliers services are very critical for HSTDs performance, satisfying its own customers. HSTD is a knowledge-intensive firm, so its participation in relevant conferences, in trade fairs, in seminars and lectures (at universities), reading relevant literature and studying varied web sites all bring it into contacts, directly or indirectly, with many other actors. Independent actors are, often, invited to have seminars and run courses for the personnel at HSTD.
The Case of Albhins AB Brief Background Information of Albhins AB

Albhins AB is a legal firm, which offers professional services to firms that need help to apply for and protect, for the most part, their patent, trademark, design, and domain names. It also provides services to firms by helping them to know and understand competition regulations and commercial laws that prevail in different markets. Customers tend to buy a whole package of services. Thus, a customer will want Albhins AB to offer services, which consist of the protection of patent, trademark, domain names, companys design and brand. On top of that, Albhins will help a customer to legally understand and interpret laws and regulations, which affect business conduct in a particular market.

Albhins, according to the respondent, is a high-customer contact firm, with regular and close interaction between the seller and the buyer. Large customers are said to have, for instance, patent department in-house, yet they turn to Albhins for help when it comes to filing an application for and protecting a patent right. This is because the time and the timely knowledge needed for such an assignment are lacking in customer firms. Any time a customer assigns Albhins to help the customer apply for and protect a patent, for example, an expert will be sent to the customers firm
56
to study and assess the customers needs. After that, Albhins will set up a team comprising of different specialists, which are judged to be competent and appropriate for providing the needed solution. The experts from Albhins will have regular and close discussions with their counterparts at the customer firm; the parties will jointly analyze and think out solutions for the customers needs. Some customers will opt for standardized solutions, while others, mostly big and important firms, will go for customized solutions that embody a whole package of services.

When filing and seeking protection for a patent right, for example, Albhins and a customer will have to cooperate by undertaking complementary activities. Experts from Albhins that are helping a customer with patent issues must not only have knowledge in areas that are patentable, each expert must also be a qualified lawyer and an engineer in some field. These experts from Albhins, building on the cooperation received from their counterparts in the customer firm, to solve the customers problem, will (1) provide a comprehensive description of the idea, concept or product, for which patent is being sought; it should be new, unique and useful for industrial use, (2) indicate precisely the requirement for patent, (3) have a correct translation of the application into English, and (4) have to properly edit the application to eliminate typing errors. When the parties are convinced, after discussions and feedbacks, that all requirements for patent have been fulfilled, Albhins will then interact with some authorities (e.g., Swedish Patent Registration Office), to represent a customer in applying for a patent. Here, Albhins will have to report results of its interactions with the authorities to its customer; sometimes, Albhins and the customer may have to do additional jobs as a means to meet some shortcomings pointed out by the authorities. For those customers buying a whole package of services, travelling to foreign markets to learn about patent procedures, protecting trademarks, domain names, regulations governing competition, and how commercial laws affect business, close and regular contacts with Albhins have been very helpful. With customers such as Volvo, SCA, and Ericsson, which have had over 30 years exchange relationships with Albhins, their specific needs from different markets (e.g., Sweden, South Korea, U.S.A., Britain, Poland, and Middle East), make them opt for tailor-made solutions. These have demanded intensive and regular exchanges (services, information, financial, and social) between the parties. Albhins asserts that the firm earns more new
57
customers from customers positive word of mouth than their own measures to win new customers. The important firms give large and regular assignments per year to Albhins. They need Albhins services, both in Sweden and in certain foreign markets. For the last 10 years, some of the customers and Albhins have been having long-term contracts, the renewal of which is done every third year. For Albhins, the contract is regarded as a guarantee of assignments per year. All personnel at Albhins are encouraged to have social interactions with personnel from customer firms. According to the respondent at Albhins, social interaction is a means to take care of the customers. Hence, going to watch hockey matches or going to some pubs with some personnel from customer firms (e.g., Volvo and Ericsson), is said to increase the parties personal knowledge of each other and also to facilitate and/or strengthen future contacts.

Albhins exchange relationships with third parties do facilitate the latters capabilities to satisfy its own customers. Albhins represents most of the important firms in Sweden and in foreign markets. Periodically, Albihns invites external experts (consultants and university lecturers) to come and hold seminars or run courses for their personnel. During such educational exercises, some personnel from Albhins customer firms are also invited to attend such functions. These and the other activities, which the parties do jointly, are said to have increased the rate at which they learn from each other and about their respective market situations. Albhins cannot be in all places at the same time; therefore, it contracts the services of local attorneys and market research firms in foreign markets where the customers of Albhins operate or will want to go and operate. These external actors do know their respective country laws, regulations and business cultures. Helping a customer to apply for and protect a patent, for example, in the U.S. or Japan market, Albhins will be in regular interaction with some of such actors; this enables Albhins to get timely and up-to-date information, which can be used to help Albhins customers in Sweden. Albhins interaction with institutions such as the Swedish Patent Registration Office and the European Patent Convention enables Albhins to gain knowledge relating to laws and regulations on patent, for example. Albhins interaction with places of learning such as the Stockholm School of Economics and the Chalmers Technical University enables the firm to
58
have access to up-to-date knowledge of their areas of specialization. There are a number of suppliers (e.g., communication equipment firms, information technology services firms, and advertising firms), which help Albhins with products and/or services that are used to provide services to Albhins own customers.
The Case of Hagstomer & Qviberg (H&Q) Brief Background Information of (H&Q)
H&Q is a securities brokerage company, which focuses on investment banking and private banking. Here, the focus is on H&Qs services provided to firms and organizations. Mostly banks and institutions that trade in stocks, funds, management of capital and trade in bonds buy H&Qs services, mostly, in the form of advice. Most customers, especially, the big ones do buy a whole package of services, namely, entrusting H&Q to manage the customers total assets, investment in stocks, bonds, and shares across markets, for instance.

At H&Q, efforts are concentrated on serving a few important customers. This is a strategic reason, the goal of which is to create higher value and satisfaction for the customers. Most customers to H&Q opt for customized solutions. Managing a customers assets, investing in stocks, bonds and shares, on behalf of a customer, for example, H&Q will have to meet each customer individually and hold a dialogue with the customer. During such interactions, both parties will jointly study, for instance, the customers situation, its market, the stock markets (regional and global), and bonds averages. This enables H&Q to also know and understand the risk propensity of each customer. For instance, how much is a customer prepared to lose as shares go down, interest rates on capital go down, tax on capital goes up, wars and natural disasters break up all of a sudden. Analyzing those things from a certain laid down capital, will enable H&Q to advise a customer on how to spread its capital among various alternatives (e.g., bonds, shares, stocks and interest bearing bonds). This joint need analysis is unique for every customer; hence, most services sold to customers are tailor-made. However, there are some standardized solutions, which H&Q can also provide for customers who need them. H&Q has a standardized way of building portfolio of investments for some customers. H&Q usually asks questions, as the example below
59
shows, in order to get to the customers needs and wants. How do you want the investment portfolio to look like? The answer might be, say, 50% shares and 50% interest bearing stocks or bonds or 80% shares and 20% interest bearing stocks or bonds. Such a distribution among shares and interest bearing stock will look the same during one, two or three years. However, H&Q can change the distribution after a customers wishes. This is a standardized solution, which is not an advice one gets from H&Q daily as it is in the case of tailor-made solutions. The customized services, on the other hand, will demand that H&Q and a customer will be involved in the whole process of production and delivery; collecting of information and the process thereof, which can happen every minute, hour and everyday, to meet customer needs are jointly done. All H&Qs big customers (e.g., Lnsfrskringen in Halmstad and other institutions) do opt for customized services.

H&Qs important customers may have expertise in-house to deal with stocks and bonds, for example, but they may lack the time and the daily knowledge that may enable them to study and analyze the rapid changes, some in seconds, minutes and hours, in the domestic as well as in the global markets. Hence, they turn to H&Q for advice regarding, example, how to manage their assets, buy and sell shares or stocks in the rapidly changing world. Small firms, on the other hand, may lack expertise inhouse to deal in stocks, for example, so they might be highly dependent on H&Qs advice. Therefore, customers buying tailor-made services are in close and regular interactions, face-to-face or through other means, with H&Q. The parties, in their close and regular meetings, discuss and agree on a number of issues, for example, the financial, services and type of information exchanges. The various types of exchange between the parties can take place almost every day, at minutes or at hours intervals. These meetings and/or contacts enable the parties to engage in mutual learning and can also mutually adapt to each other. For example, the customers are fond of communicating directly to H&Q about any unsatisfactory service received. We rectify some small mistakes all the time, during the close contacts with customers. Should we detect that we have overseen some serious mistakes, we jointly try to solve that, said the respondent. H&Qs interaction with customers is facilitated by the constant information exchange among all personnel, including those at headquarters in
60
Stockholm. Meetings on telephone between analysts at headquarters and H&Q representatives in other regions are held everyday between 8 and 8: 45 a.m. This enables representatives at regional branches to get up-to-date information about market situations and also to learn about how involved all personnel are in the attempt to satisfy H&Qs customers in any market. All in all, big customers or rich customers, as termed by H&Q, do much business with H&Q; they offer large assignments, at regular intervals, and have been paying on time. H&Q has had business relationships with almost all the big firms since the 1980s and some since the 1990s. Almost all customers are said to have helped H&Q to win new customers through the positive word of mouth, which they spread about H&Qs services. Social relationships have also been established between H&Qs personnel and some personnel at customer firms. For H&Q, the social exchange helps the parties to strengthen the trust and the confidence they have in each other and for the firms, for which they work. However, care should be taken so that the social relationship is not abused. For example, no personnel at H&Q should accept a present from any customer that is more than 150 Swedish Kronor. H&Qs personnel can invite customers to lunch, but not vice versa.

H&Qs need of better and timely information to help them advice their customers to make profitable decisions regarding, for instance, the evolutionary processes in the world markets (e.g., in USA, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East), is beyond its capabilities, according to the informant. Hence, H&Q has developed exchange relationships with a number of suppliers and with series of external partners. H&Q cannot be in all the worlds markets, but its customers want to trade in shares, stocks and bonds that are spread all over world markets. Through the various partners, spread over world markets, H&Q gets direct knowledge and/or information about where things happen and when they happen. Independent fund managers, asset managers, and market analysts in markets other than where H&Q is situated do help H&Q to acquire knowledge and information and the analysis thereof of about the various markets. So what is happening in the Indian, China and the US markets, for example, could instantly be conveyed, through some partners, to H&Q in Sweden. With that knowledge and information, H&Q will be in the position to advice its customers about where market opportunities are high and where
61
they are very uncertain. So the buy recommendations or the sell recommendation, for example, of shares or stocks will depend upon market knowledge acquired and processed within H&Q and within its partner firms. H&Q engages the services of Temple and other fund managers, asset managers or brokers, which observe and study, example, the India market. H&Q and most of its partners also do buy information from a number of suppliers, notably Reuters, Bloomberg and SIC. Almost all information that flow into H&Qs information systems come from Reuters, SIC and others. According to H&Q, the firm cannot function without the information flow from the important suppliers. These suppliers are providing H&Q market information almost every minute or second so H&Qs interaction with them is very high; they help H&Q update its information and hence advice to match market conditions. H&Q publishes and sends information, to which customers have access, through the firms monthly magazine and brochures. Therefore, other suppliers, namely some printing press firms and advertising firms, with which H&Q interacts, play a role too in the latters effort to meet customer needs. By the participation in seminars and professional public lectures, H&Q interacts with a number of experts, from different firms, industries and universities, where knowledge and experiences are shared. H&Q has even been inviting its own customers to public lectures that are judged to be of relevance for them too.
ANALYSIS SupplierCustomer Exchange Relationship: An Interactive Process

The above traits (see Table 1) in the behaviour of the three firms have led to each of the firms delivering high value, than its rivals can do, to the target customers (Bennett and Karvinen 2006; Doyle and Stern 2006; Brady and Cronin 2001). For example, the information, jointly created and shared by the interacting parties, form the basis upon which the interacting parties, through their complementary activities and resources (Hkansson & Snehota 1995; Ford 1997), create value sharable among themselves (Anderson and Narus 2004; Gummesson 2002; Tzokas and Saren 2004). The value consists in customers opting to buy more services from the seller on a continued basis and the seller getting regular assignments and large revenues regularly.
62
TABLE 1. Similarities in the firms customer-orientation focus

Common traits Customer involvement in services production Customers needs analysis HSTD Very high Jointly undertaken by seller and customer Mutually taken by seller and buyer Albhins Very high Jointly undertaken by seller and customer Mutually taken by seller and buyer H&Q Very high Jointly undertaken by seller and customer Mutually taken by seller and buyer
Decisions on other terms of exchange (e.g., price, delivery, and modifications) Social interaction Highly encouraged Highly encouraged Highly encouraged Very essential Very essential Very essential Drawing on complementary resources/activities of third parties
Through the intensive interactive process (Svensson 2006), the simultaneous presence of the production and the consumption (Normann 1991; Mercer 1993; Berry and Parasuraman 1991) of the PSFs services have been greatly facilitated by the commitment, trust, the mutual learning and the mutual adaptation (Hkansson 1982; Hammarkvist et al. 1982; Hkansson and Snehota 1995; Havila et al. 1999), which each of the selling firms and its customers are engaged in. The outcomes, as depicted in Table 2, are sizable business done between any of the PSF and its buyer, the long and stable relationship (longevity), and customers spread of positive word-of-mouth on a sellers performance. The seller, the
TABLE 2. A summary of positive outcomes of the firms customer-orientation focus
Outcomes HSTD Albhins H&Q This is the case for this seller
This is the case This is the case Customers doing for this seller for this seller regular and repeat purchase, involving large sum of money Very crucial Very crucial Customers help market the firm and its services Have had relationAge and stability Have had relationship with most and (Longevity) ship with most and same customers same customers since 30 years ago 1995/1996
Very crucial
Have had relationship with most and same customers since 1980
63
buyer and some third parties are seen to contribute, with their knowledge, skills, information and feedback which make it possible for the seller to meet customer needs. This is consistent with what is observed elsewhere (Tzokas and Saren 2004). Thus, interactive exchange relationship is not only about selling, but also about development, production and delivery of services, which create value for the interacting parties (Gummesson 2002; Anderson and Narus 2004).
Supplier-Customer Interdependence
The close customer focus is also due to the fact that the interacting parties are highly interdependent. In HSTD, most of its large and regular assignments come from the important customers. In Albhins, the important customers are the regular and larger buyers of assignments. The H&Qs big customers are also responsible for the large and regular assignments that come in. Similarly, the customers, most of which, for want of time and some special expertise (see case stories), are bound to stick to their respective suppliers become highly dependent on the sellers. Although the firms differ (see Table A1, appendix 1, and case stories), their customer-orientation behaviours are seemingly similar. The firms operate in different industries, they also differ in terms of size (here no. of employees) and age (see Table A1, appendix 1), yet to provide superior value and satisfaction to customers, each of the firms respective customer orientation shows that contacts between each PSF and its respective customers are regular, close and considerable. Almost everyday all three firms have some kind of personal contact, in the form of visits, or impersonal such as telephone, e-mail, and fax between each PSF and its respective customers; all this has enhanced the big business between the parties. However, as depicted in Tables 1 and 2, the interdependent focal firms (the seller and the buyer) performance in the marketplace cannot be decoupled from their respective interconnected exchange relationships with some third parties in the marketplace.
Inter-Connected Exchange Relationships: The Impact of Third Parties

Relating this study to what Hkansson and Snehota assert (1995, p. 11), each of the selling firms customer orientation performance that has born fruit, having customers that give large assignments on regular basis and even recommend the seller to potential customers, has been a function of how well each firm has handled or handles its exchange
64
relationships in the marketplace, including those with customers (see also Gummesson 2002). All the three cases provide evidence that their important customers (those buying large sums of services at regular intervals) prefer to do business with them because of the creative solutions (HSTD) and/or the up-to-date solutions (see Albhins and H&Q), which the sellers offer. To be able to offer creative solutions and/or up-to-date solutions, HSTD, Albhins and H&Q invest time and resources in educating and developing the skills and knowledge of their respective personnel by hiring experts in certain specialized fields to come to their firms to run courses. This enables the personnel to be in the forefront of technology or have access to timely information, which is used to help the firms respective customers. Knowledge gained by working closely with university researchers or attending seminars and lectures at universities do help each of the three PSFs to update the knowledge and skills of their respective personnel. Hence, managing relationships with such third parties will help each of the PSFs to provide desirable solutions to customers. Importantly, the study has demonstrated that no firm is self-sufficient (Hkansson and Snehota 1989). Whatever resources (skills, knowledge and physical goods) a PSF possesses all its efforts to meet customer needs would not pay off, if it has /had no access to the resources and activities of other actors, which complement the firms own. HSTDs relationships with its customers, customers, its own suppliers (e.g., photographers, printing press firms, mass media, and Translation firms) and universities (case story, p. 15) have all contributed to HSTDs effective way of meeting its own customers needs better than its rivals. Albhins exchange relationships with, for example, other attorneys in foreign markets, marketing research firms in foreign markets, inviting experts to come to give lectures and run seminars in Sweden for Albhins personnel and customers, interacting with patent authorities and universities have all been very helpful in the firms performance. Analogously, H&Qs is seen to interact with third parties (e.g., news suppliers such as Reuters and Bloomberg, and stock brokers in foreign markets), all contributing to its ability to meet customer needs.
Social Exchange Relationship

The essence of social relationship to foster understanding, knowledge, cooperation and trust in any business relationship has been stressed in the literature (Hunt and Morgan 1994; Gummesson 2002; Ford 1997). In all the three cases, there are examples that show how well each selling firms
65
personnel are encouraged to value and actively engage in social interactions with some personnel from the buying firms. Examples could be going for lunch together, attending football matches, attending conferences and seminars organized by a third party, and having dinners together. As a respondent at Albhins said, social interactions are a way to take care of a firms customers.
CONCLUSION
The purpose of this study has been to deepen our understanding of the extent to which a firms customer orientation practice is affected by its network of exchange relationships. To provide superior value and satisfaction to customers, each of the PSFs customer orientation has demanded close and regular contacts between the seller and the buyer of services. However, this result is seen from a wider context. Each of our three PSFs has, through intensive and regular interactions and exchanges with their direct customers and with certain significant actors in their wider network of exchange relationships, been able to win and retain important customers that are doing regular and big businesses with it. Other findings relate to the stable and long-term relationships between the focal actors. Another finding is also about the fact that each of the selling firms has satisfied customers that actively help market the firm and its services through the so called positive word-of-mouth. This is consistent with what Gummesson (2002) terms as having customers as part-time marketers of ones firm. In recognition of some limitations in this study, other areas that need further research are given below.
FUTURE RESEARCH
Future research can test, as a way of generalizing the findings beyond the PSFs context, using quantitative study and a large sample of services firms, the following hypotheses which are derived from the theorizing and the practical illustration of the phenomenon under study. As actors engage in a network of exchange relationships where they complement each other through their activities that are linked with each other and their resources that are tied to each other (Anderson and Narus 2004; Gummesson 2002; Hkansson and Snehota 1995), their interdependent relationship needs to be mutually managed. Focal firms inter-connected relationships also suggest
66
that the selling firm and the buying firm will utilize some specific third parties capabilities to complement their own. This leads to the following hypotheses: Hypothesis 1: The greater the firms customer orientation, the wider and deep the network of third party relationships. Hypothesis 2: The greater the cooperation and commitment between the focal actors (PSFs) and certain important buyers as well as some significant third parties, the greater the mutual benefits derived from their exchange relationships. Social exchange relationship is an inherent feature of any interorganizational exchanges of physical goods and services (Ford 1997; Gummesson 2002; Hunt and Morgan 1994). As actors, which do business together may also socialize outside business hours, their knowledge of each other, the trust in each other, and the cooperation among them (Hunt and Morgan 1994) may increase, this benefiting the firms for which they work. In the present study it is even said that social relationship is a way of taking care of a firms customers. This leads to the following hypotheses: Hypothesis 3: The stronger the social relationships between a selling firms personnel and a buying firms personnel, the higher the probability of a long-term business relationship. Hypothesis 4: The collapse of a business relationship will directly affect social relationship. Perhaps future studies can also extend the network view even beyond what is captured in this study and explore, more explicitly, for example, customers relationships with third parties; for a network of exchange relationships can be boundless (Johanson 1989; Anderson et al. 1994). For the present study, below are some implications for business marketing practice.
REFERENCES
Aldas-Manzano, J., Kster, I., and Vila, N. (2005), Market orientation and innovation: an inter-relationship analysis. European Journal of Innovation Management, 8 (4), 437452. Anderson, J. C., Hkansson, H., and Johanson, J. (1994), Dyadic business relationships within a business network context. Journal of Marketing, 58, October, 115.
67
Anderson, J. C, and Narus, J. A. (2004), Business market management: Understanding, creating, and delivering value (2nd ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc. Armstrong, G., Saunders, J., & Wong, V. (2005), Principles of marketing, Pearson Education Limited, Harlow. Axelsson, B. (1996), Professionell marknadsfring. Lund: Studentlitteratur. Bennett, D, and Karvinen, K. (2006), Enhancing performance through the introduction of customer orientation into the building components industry. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, 55 (5), 400422. Berry, L. L., & Parasuraman, A. (1991), Marketing services: Competing through quality. New York: Free Press. Birn, R., Hague, P, and Vangelder, P. (1990), A Handbook of Market Research Techniques, London: Kogan Page Ltd. Brady, M. K., and J. J. Cronin, Jr. (2001), Customer orientation: Effects on customer service perceptions and outcome behaviours. Journal of Service Research, 3 (3), 241251. Bryman, A. (1989), Research methods and organization studies. Unwin Hyman, London. Bryman, A. (2002), Samhllsvetenskapliga metoder. Liber AB, Malm. Burt, R. (1982), Towards a structural theory of action: Network model of social structures, perception and action. New York: Academic Press. Cook, S. K., and Emersson, R. M. (1978 October), Power, equity, commitment in exchange networks. American Sociological Review, 43, 721738. Dadzie, K.Q. and Winston, E. (2002), Market orientation of Nigerian and Kenyan firms: The role of top managers. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 17 (6), 471480. Doyle, P. & Wong, W. (1998), Marketing and competitive performance: An empirical study. European Journal of Marketing, 32 (5/6), 514535. Doyle, P. (2002), Marketing management and strategy (3rd ed.). London/New York: Prentice-Hall. Doyle, P. and Stern, P. (2006), Marketing management and strategy (4th ed.). Pearson Education Limited, Edinburgh Gate/Harlow. Edvardsson, B., and Larsson, P. (2004), Tjnstergarantier (Services guarantee). Lund: Studentlitteratur. Ford. D. I., Hkansson, H., & Johanson, J. (1986), How do companie interact? Industrial Marketing and Purchasing, 1 (1), 2641. Ford, D. I. (1990), Understanding business markets: Interaction, relationships, and networks. London: Academic Press. Ford, D. I. (1997), Understanding business markets: Interaction, relationships and networks (2nd ed.). New York: Dryden Press. Fruin, W. M. (2001), Evolving High-Tech Services in Silicon Valley: From Chips and Operating Systems to Full-Function R and D, Design, Production, Logistics and Financial Services, a paper presented at The Business History Conference 2001, Miami, Florida, April 1922. Guba, E., and Lincoln, Y. (2000), Paradigmatic controversies, contradictions and emerging influences. In N. K. Denzin and Y. Lincoln (eds.), Handbook of Qualitative Research (2nd ed.). London: Sage Publications. Ghauri, P. N., and Gronghaug, K. (2005), Research methods in business studies: A practical guide, (3rd ed.). London: FT-Prentice Hall.
68
Grnroos, C. (1990), Relationship approach to marketing contexts: The marketing and organizational behaviour interface. Journal of Business Research, 20, 311. Gummesson, E. (2002), Total relationship marketing: Marketing management, relationship strategy and CRM approaches for the network economy (2nd ed.). Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann. Gumesson, E. (2003), All research is interpretive. Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, 18 (6/7), 482492. Halliday, S. V. (2002), Barriers to customer-orientationA case applied and explained. European Journal of Marketing, 36 (1/2), pp. 136158. Hammarkvist, K. O, Hkansson, H. and Mattsson, L.-G. (1982), Marknadsfring fr konkurrenskraft. Liber, Malm. Havila, V., Hkansson, H., and Pedersen, A.-C. (1999), Learning in networks. Industrial Marketing Management, 28, 443452. Holmlund, H. (2004), Analyzing business relationships and distinguishing different interaction levels. Industrial Marketing Management, 33, 279287. Hunt, S. D., and Morgan, R. M. (1994), The commitment-trust theory of relationship marketing. Journal of Marketing, 58, 2038. Hyde, K. F. (2000), Recognizing deductive process in qualitative research. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 3 (2), 8289. Hgg, I and Johanson, J. (1982), Fretag I ntverk (Firms in Networks). SNS, Stockholm. Hkansson, H. (1982), International marketing and purchasing of industrial goods: An interaction approach. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, Hkansson, H. (1987), Industrial technological development: A network approach. London: Routledge. Hkansson, H. (1989), Corporate technological behaviour. Co-operation and networks. London: Routledge. Hkansson, H and Snehota. I. (1995), Developing relationships in business networks. London: Routledge. Hkansson, H., and Snehota, I. (1989), No business is an island. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 5, 187200. Jaworski, B. J., and Kohli, A.K. (1990), Market orientation: Antecedents and consequences. In R. Despande (Ed.), Developing a market orientation (pp. 103133), Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Johanson, J. (1989), Business relationships and networks. Perspective on the economics of organizations. Crafoord lectures, Vol. 1. Lund: Institute of Economic Research, University Press. Joshi, A. W, and Thakor, M. V. (2003), Motivating salesperson customer orientation: insights from the job characteristics model. Journal of Business Research 58, 584592. Kidder, L. H., and Judd, M. C. (1986), Research methods in social relations. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. Mercer, D. (1993), Marketing. Oxford: Sage Publications. Narver, J. C., and Slatter, S. F. (1993), The effects of a market orientation on business profitability. Journal of Marketing, 54, 2035. Normann, R. (1991), Service management strategy and leadership in service business (2nd ed.). Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.
69
Ranchhod, A., and Singh, S. (2003), Market orientation and customer satisfaction: Evidence from British machine tool industry. Industrial Marketing Management, 33, 135144. Snehota, I. (1990), Notes on a Theory of Business Enterprise. Department of Business Studies, Uppsala. Svensson, G. (2006), The interactive interface of service qualityA conceptual framework. European Business Review, 18 (3), 243257. Tzokas, N., and Saren, M. (2004), Competitive advantage, knowledge and relationship marketing: Where, what and how? Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, 9 (1), 2042. Yin, R. K. (1989), Case study research: Design and methods. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications. Yin, R. K. (1994), Case study research, design and methods (2nd ed.). London: Sage Publications, Inc.
70
IMPLICATIONS FOR BUSINESS MARKETING PRACTICE

A customer-oriented firm (Brady and Cronin 2001; Joshi and Thakor 2002; Bennett and Karvinen 2006) is considered to be the one that sees its survival and success, for example, to be dependent on how well the firms entire personnel places customer needs satisfaction at the centre of their activities. But, as it has been shown in this study, to be able to win and retain important customers that will do regular and big businesses with a firm, will depend, on large, upon how well the firm handles its other significant relationships (Hkansson and Snehota 1995; Hkansson 1987). If actors in interaction will want to create mutually beneficial value, they need to be committed, cooperate and trust each other (Gummesson 2002; Hunt and Morgan 1994). It is only through active involvement in the creation of value, which when shared to each partys satisfaction, will stable and long-term relationships between the actors in interaction, as this study has shown, be guaranteed. How a customer-oriented service firm benefits from customer focus, either directly or indirectly, is said to be unknown (Brady and Cronin 2002, p. 241). The present study has helped to close that gap. In this study information collection about customers needs and wants, how to process the information, and distribute them among the interacting parties, have not been activities and resources confined only within the selling firms; the focal firms and certain significant third parties (e.g., suppliers suppliers, universities and independent firms/organizations) have all contributed to the focal actors winwin exchange. A firms customer focus, as contended by Gummesson (2002), should stress the network effect (focal actors relationships with third parties) of that effort. If not, our customer-orientation study or the customer-supplier relationship will never reflect reality (p. 40). With the network perspective, this study has shed light on how the PSFs, through actions, reactions (Svensson 2006) and interactions with certain significant actors, have been able to create higher value and greater satisfaction for their respective customers.
APPENDIX
TABLE A1. Sample characteristics of the firms studied
Industry 8 million Swedish kronor 8 employees Turnover & No. of employees Services provided Advertising services: Printing, Internet services and sending messages and pictures via films and radio. The provision of the above services is about basically offering ideas, advice and design of pictures or images Provides services to mostly business and non-business organizations as customers. Customers are mostly in Sweden. Services: Providing legal protection for a customers patent, trademark, design, copy right, domain names, and providing advice on competition regulation and commercial law in a particular market. Customers: mostly business companies,small and large. Most customers operate in Sweden and in foreign markets 400 million Swedish kronor 210 employees
Company
Advertising Usual approach to win customers and assignments: (a) Reactive: customers seek HSTD on their own because of recommendations, word-ofmouth. This is the most important for HSTD Proactive: customers and assignments are won through own active promotion Legal services Albhins AB, one of the leading firms of patent and trademark attorneys in Europe Usual approach to win customers and assignments: Was founded in 1891, with its main headquarters in Stockholm. Has branches (a) Reactive: customers come to Albhins on their own because in Gothenburg, Malm, all in Sweden, of recommendations,word-ofCopenhagen (Denmark) and Munich mouth. This is the most (Germany) important for Albhins The respondent at Albhins in Gothenburg was the patent manager; interview was heli (b) Proactive: customers and assignments are won through on 12-09-2005 own active promotion
Halmstad Reklambyr (HSTD), operates mostly in Sweden, with Halmstadas headquarters Was established in 2003, a merger between The one (established in 1995) and Kerg Kirtley (established in 1996) The respondent at HSTD was the Managing Director; interviewed on 5102005
(Continued)
71
72
TABLE A1. (Continued)

Industry Turnover & No. of employees 106 million Swedish kronor 191 employees Services provided
Company
Hagstrmer & Qviberg (H&Q), a leading securities brokerage company, was established in 1982. Has headquarters in Stockholm. Has also branches in Gothenburg, Malm, Halmstad, and Jnkping, all in Sweden, and Oslo (Norway) The respondent at H&Q was the Stock Broker/Asset Manager in Halmstad. Interview was held on 592005
Investment banking: managing corporate finances and managing institutional trade in stocks and derivatives Private banking: focuses on asset management and financial planning for private individuals. Approach to win customers Reactive: Most customers are won through recommendations, via word-ofmouth Proactive: own active promotion
Services: Manages a customers assets, investment in stocks, bonds and shares. Basically, customers will be advised on how to spread their capital among various alternatives (e.g. bonds, shares, stocks and interest bearing bonds) Customers: mostly business companies,small and large. Managing a customers capital, spread among different alternatives make H&Q invest in the national and in the entire world markets

Analyzing Customer-Orientation Practices of Firms From A Wider Perspective

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Analyzing Customer-Orientation Practices of Firms From A Wider Perspective

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

This article was downloaded by: [Romanian Ministry Consortium] On: 2 March 2010 Access details: Access Details:

Journal of Business To Business Marketing

Analyzing Customer-Orientation Practices of Firms from a Wider Perspective

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Analyzing Customer-Orientation Practices of Firms from a Wider Perspective

Gabriel Baffour JOURNAL OF BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS Awuah MARKETING

Downloaded By: [Romanian Ministry Consortium] At: 19:56 2 March 2010

ABSTRACT. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to deepen our

JOURNAL OF BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS MARKETING

KEYWORDS. Customer-orientation, network of exchange relationships,

Downloaded By: [Romanian Ministry Consortium] At: 19:56 2 March 2010

Gabriel Baffour Awuah

Downloaded By: [Romanian Ministry Consortium] At: 19:56 2 March 2010

JOURNAL OF BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS MARKETING

Downloaded By: [Romanian Ministry Consortium] At: 19:56 2 March 2010

Gabriel Baffour Awuah

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK The Network Approach

JOURNAL OF BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS MARKETING

Downloaded By: [Romanian Ministry Consortium] At: 19:56 2 March 2010

Gabriel Baffour Awuah

JOURNAL OF BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS MARKETING

Downloaded By: [Romanian Ministry Consortium] At: 19:56 2 March 2010

Gabriel Baffour Awuah

Joint Analysis of Customer Needs

JOURNAL OF BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS MARKETING

Mutual and Active Collaboration to Create Value

Downloaded By: [Romanian Ministry Consortium] At: 19:56 2 March 2010

Interacting with Third Parties: Value Creation as a Network Issue

Gabriel Baffour Awuah

Downloaded By: [Romanian Ministry Consortium] At: 19:56 2 March 2010

The Case of Albhins AB Brief Background Information of Albhins AB

Joint Analysis of Customer Needs

JOURNAL OF BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS MARKETING

Mutual and Active Collaboration to Create Value

Gabriel Baffour Awuah

Downloaded By: [Romanian Ministry Consortium] At: 19:56 2 March 2010

Interacting with Third Parties: Value Creation as a Network Issue

JOURNAL OF BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS MARKETING

Joint Analysis of Customer Needs

Gabriel Baffour Awuah

Downloaded By: [Romanian Ministry Consortium] At: 19:56 2 March 2010

Mutual and Active Collaboration to Create Value

JOURNAL OF BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS MARKETING

Downloaded By: [Romanian Ministry Consortium] At: 19:56 2 March 2010

Interacting with Third Parties: Value Creation as a Network Issue

Gabriel Baffour Awuah

Downloaded By: [Romanian Ministry Consortium] At: 19:56 2 March 2010

ANALYSIS SupplierCustomer Exchange Relationship: An Interactive Process

JOURNAL OF BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS MARKETING

TABLE 1. Similarities in the firms customer-orientation focus

Downloaded By: [Romanian Ministry Consortium] At: 19:56 2 March 2010

Gabriel Baffour Awuah

Inter-Connected Exchange Relationships: The Impact of Third Parties

JOURNAL OF BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS MARKETING

Downloaded By: [Romanian Ministry Consortium] At: 19:56 2 March 2010

Social Exchange Relationship

Gabriel Baffour Awuah

JOURNAL OF BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS MARKETING

Downloaded By: [Romanian Ministry Consortium] At: 19:56 2 March 2010

Gabriel Baffour Awuah

Downloaded By: [Romanian Ministry Consortium] At: 19:56 2 March 2010

JOURNAL OF BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS MARKETING