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A cornerstone of relationship marketing is a shared understanding by suppliers and buyers about the nature of the relationship itself. This research empirically examines one aspect of this issue: whether internal work relationships between departments affect the expectations about cooperation that purchasing managers bring to their external supply relationships. The results suggest that buyers do attribute internal firm attitudes or norms to their external supply relationships. In firms characterized by cooperative inter‐departmental interaction, buyers have a more cooperative orientation towards their supply relationships than do buyers in firms characterized by competitive inter‐departmental interaction.

Increasingly managers speak in terms of partnerships when they refer to their buyer‐supplier relationships. While both suppliers and customers can achieve better performance in close co‐ordinated relationships, not all relationships result in mutual benefit. Explores what buyers and sellers expect and contribute to their partnerships. Examines three categories of bahavior in relationships generally associated with norms conducive to co‐operation (joint problem‐solving, communication and relationship‐specific investment) for both suppliers and buyers. The results suggest that buyers and suppliers do not always agree about the behavior which occurs in “partnerships.” One reason for this is that each side may bring different expectations to the relationship. For both the buyer and the supplier samples, there was a wide diversity of opinion about what a “partnership” entails. Support was found for the reliability of four different partnership definitions: self‐centred; personal loyalty; mutual investment; and political control.

To cope with the rising pressure for global competitiveness, exporters are increasingly cooperating with their suppliers and customers. This research empirically examines the factors which encourage exporters to cooperate with their major trading partners in international value chains. The results suggest that while there are some differences between customer and supplier relationships, trust, relative dependence and the exporter’s competitive strategy are key variables which encourage exporters to form cooperative trading linkages. The results also suggest that an exporter’s trading relationships are interconnected: an exporter’s cooperation with customers may depend upon its cooperation with suppliers.

Looks at strategic logistics management and technology strategies for manufacturing and groups the contents under four main headings: logistical future; information challenge; 21st century manufacturing; 21st century service industries. Aims to look at the many challenges facing logistics practitioners and researchers.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to examine the level of narcissism and its individual traits in students who study business, in the particular context of a regional country such as Greece; and, second, to test how several demographic variables are related to narcissism levels.

The study consists of a theoretical part on narcissism in business education and an empirical part that was based on a survey conducted with the use of a questionnaire. The analysis includes hypothesis testing and basic statistical tests.

Findings suggest that sex, study levels, years of business experience and (personal/family) income do impact specific narcissistic dimensions, which may be a cause for concern both for employers and higher education providers.

The study was conducted in a regional country, the participants were students of public higher education institutions only and the questionnaire was self-reported, which could lead to likely social desirability effects.

The investigation of narcissism in the Greek business education might be of interest to business education providers (for providing curriculum that help future managers/leaders to deploy the positive characteristics of narcissism and avoid or not to develop the negative ones) and to future employers to apply more effective human resource practices, i.e. selection, training, rewarding.

The study at hand aimed to investigate the presence of narcissism and its individual (narcissistic) behavioral dimensions in students studying business in Greece.

The purpose of this study was to determine the roles of employee proficiency, adaptivity and proactivity in predicting different aspects of internal service.

Managers evaluated 142 professional employees on proficiency, adaptivity and proactivity and about six weeks later 2–3 internal customers evaluated each of the employees on dimensions of internal service, namely reliability (i.e. performing dependably and accurately), assurance (i.e. knowledge, courtesy, and the ability to inspire trust and confidence), responsiveness (i.e. willingness to help customers and provide prompt service) and empathy (i.e. caring and providing individualized attention).

Employee proficiency and proactivity were the main predictors of delivering reliable services. Employee proficiency was the main predictor for creating a sense of assurance. Employee adaptivity was the main predictor of being viewed as responsive. Employee proactivity was the main predictor for establishing a sense of empathy.

In a given situation, some aspects of internal service will be more important than others. The results will enable organizations to improve internal service in a more effective and efficient manner by developing interventions that are targeted at the specific dimension of interest.

The authors identified the types of employee behaviors that are likely to be most effective in impacting different aspects of internal service.

Companies often provide preferential treatment, such as free upgrades, to customers. The present study aims to identify a costly consequence of such preferential treatment (i.e. opportunistic behavior) and reveal which type of customer is most likely to engage in that negative behavior (i.e. new customers).

Across two experimental studies, the authors test whether preferential treatment increases customers’ entitlement, which in turn increases their propensity to behave opportunistically. Moderated mediation analysis further tests whether that mediated effect is moderated by customers’ prior relationship with the company.

Preferential treatment increases feelings of entitlement, which consequently triggers customers’ opportunistic behaviors. New customers are more likely to feel entitled after preferential treatment than repeat customers, and hence new customers are more likely to behave opportunistically. Preferential treatment also increases customers’ suspicion of the company’s motives, but suspicion was unrelated to opportunistic behavior.

Future research may focus on other marketplace situations that trigger entitlement and explore whether multiple occurrences of preferential treatment provide different effects on consumers.

Present findings demonstrate that preferential treatment can evoke opportunistic behaviors among customers. The authors suggest that preferential treatment should be provided to customers who previously invested in their relationship with a company (i.e. repeat customers) rather than new customers.

Prior research has focused more on the ways companies prioritize their repeat customers than how they surprise their new customers. The present research instead examines preferential treatment based on customers’ relationship with a firm (i.e. both repeat and new customers) and demonstrates behavioral and contextual effects of entitlement.

Using a theoretical and empirical focus on the power stakeholders exert, the purpose of this paper is to provide a better understanding of the factors that influence the subsidiaries of multinationals’ participation in corporate social responsibility (CSR) under the pressures (expectations and demands) their complex system of internal and external stakeholders’ places upon them.

Using an in-depth case study, the relationship a local subsidiary in the food and beverage industry has with its stakeholders as regards CSR is analyzed.

The findings illustrate three main aspects: how the local company is affected by and how it affects its stakeholders (an example of the multidirectionality of power and influence); the direct and indirect practices that are adopted to address challenges; and the importance of the role the local subsidiary plays as an implementer and diffuser of its parent organization’s responsible practices across the industry value chain.

To the best of authors’ knowledge, the focus is on analyzing the power stakeholders have in the context of multinational companies that has not been applied before, and the outcome of using this approach is that the authors have uncovered gaps in the literature for future research.

The General Industries Division will be featuring a number of new products recently added to its Surcol range of acrylic polymers.

This paper aims to conceptualise and characterise brand systems and outline propositions and research avenues to advance the systems’ view of branding.

A conceptual synthesis approach is adopted to integrate the extant branding research perspectives. The conceptual framework is grounded in the theoretical foundation of marketing systems theory.

The conceptual framework delineates brand inputs, throughputs, outcomes and feedback effects within a brand system. It configures the complexity and dynamics of brand value formation among brand actors within the branding environment.

This paper contributes to systems thinking in branding and brand value co-creation research. It extends marketing systems theory into the branding context and provides research directions for exploring the structural and functional configurations, cause–consequence processes and outcome concerns of brand value formation.

This conceptual framework informs brand development, management and regulation at a macro level. Managers can apply the brand system concept to identify and manage conflicting expectations of brand actors and alleviate adverse brand outcomes such as negative brand externalities, enhancing overall brand system health and societal value.

This research expands the scope of brand actor agency and identifies the likelihood of disproportionate brand outcomes. It provides methodological guidelines for analysis and intervention in brand systems.