Constructing the market position of a project-based firm

Abstract

Project marketing research has shown that project-based firms (PBFs) can favorably differentiate themselves from their competitors by developing a strong functional position and a strong relational position in a specific market milieu. Combined, these two interrelated positions constitute the market position of a project-based firm, and inter-organizational relationships (IORs) between a PBF and other actors in the milieu play an important role in its development. Active development of IORs to key actors simultaneously increases the effectiveness of the focal PBF in delivering solutions to its customers (functional position) and simultaneously enables it to occupy a stronger position in the milieu linking it to its customers (relational position). We present evidence from an empirical case focusing on how an automation system supplier gradually constructed a strong market position in the Russian oil and gas industry.