Negative aspects of business relationships for resource mobilization

Abstract

The diffusion of a relational view of markets has been accompanied by the introduction of the concept of relationship orientation, defined as the propensity to engage in a relational behaviour. But companies often struggle to obtain the benefits of close collaboration in business-to-business relationships, with important effects the way resources are combined in buyer–seller interactions. This paper will discuss three main elements that can limit the ability of a company to establish and maintain effective business relationships and therefore impede resource mobilization: opportunism, uncertainty and negative misalignment. The paper will highlight that for a relational orientation to influence resource mobilization positively, there is the need not only to build long-term relationships characterized by trust, commitment and information exchange, as often stressed in the literature, but also to manage relational opportunism, ambiguity and uncertainty.