Quasi-Darwinian Selection in Marketing Relationships

Abstract

Abstract This article introduces quasi-Darwinian selection as a new explanatory paradigm for marketing relationships. In this paradigm, established relationships are viewed as survivors of a selection process whose parameters are the conduct of the partners, dependencies between the partners, and external adversities in the markets. Selection has the effect of culling certain combinations of these parameters, such as attempts at unilateral control when the partner is not dependent. The effect of selection is to carve out patterns that appear as associations between parameters, for example, between unilateral control and dependence. Traditionally, such associations have been interpreted as causal effects of one parameter on the other. This study shows that quasi-Darwinian selection may sometimes be the more correct explanation of an observed association. The guiding principle can be summarized by the motto “selection creates association.” As an explanatory paradigm, selection may rival causation. The quasi...