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Customer-Supplier Relationships in B2B

An Interaction Perspective on Actors in Business Networks

Palgrave Macmillan
  • Reviews how different research streams treat the idea of market relationships, and how these work

  • Based on original field research with 128 observations on 32 customer–industrial company relationships

  • Offers novel insights on how interaction behaviours impact the development of buyer–seller relationships

  • Argues that actors in business relationships have fluid boundaries and are characterized by jointness, and multiple and transient identities

  • Shows that actors in interaction (‘interactors’) need capabilities beyond the traditional managerial skills of analysis, planning, and decision-making

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Table of contents (6 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xviii
  2. Actors in Interaction

    • Antonella La Rocca
    Pages 95-121
  3. Interaction and Identities in Business Relationships

    • Antonella La Rocca
    Pages 163-191
  4. Back Matter

    Pages 193-200

About this book

This book explores customer-supplier relationships in B2B markets focusing on interaction between parties. Drawing on three fields of research – studies of relationships in marketing, social interactionism in sociology, and sense-making in social psychology – the author explores the concepts and roles of actors in business relationships and how the behaviour of actors within an interaction affects the development of those relationships.

Based on a review of prior research and an original empirical study, the author argues that the presence of continuous close relationships between the customer and supplier organisations bestows features of a business network on B2B markets, with distinct interdependencies and ubiquitous interactions. Exploring buyer-seller interactions, the author contends that actors’ mutually perceived identities – continuously emergent and relationship-specific – are the main factor in the development of business relationships and discusses the implications for management practice and research.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Rennes School of Business, Rennes, France

    Antonella La Rocca

About the author

Antonella La Rocca is Associate Professor at Rennes School of Business, France, where she teaches B2B marketing. She is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing and on the board of the Association for Key Account Management. Her main research interests are innovation, entrepreneurship, and sales in business markets. She has co-edited volumes on innovation in healthcare and new business venturing, and is the author of several publications in Industrial Marketing Management, Management Decision and the IMP Journal. 

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Customer-Supplier Relationships in B2B

  • Book Subtitle: An Interaction Perspective on Actors in Business Networks

  • Authors: Antonella La Rocca

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40993-7

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: Business and Management, Business and Management (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-40992-0Published: 15 March 2020

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-40995-1Published: 15 March 2021

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-40993-7Published: 14 March 2020

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XVIII, 200

  • Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations, 9 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Marketing, Sales/Distribution

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access