Publication database

Purpose - This case study sets out to draw a detailed picture of the business relationships between Gildemeister Lathes Ltd and its two competing in-suppliers, Siemens and Heidenhain. Design/methodology/approach - On the basis of a profound analysis of the relationship context and by identifying the drivers of commitment the reader should identify some starting-points to develop a sales strategy in order to keep and raise Siemens' share of the business with Gildemeister. Findings - The case study enables the discussion of customer value-drivers within a relationship context and puts an emphasis on the assessment of a multi-stage marketing-approach focusing on different units within a complex customer organisation and taking into account the "customer's customer" -perspective. Originality/value - This paper provides a detailed case study of Gildemeister Lathes Ltd, Siemens, and Heidenhain.

With permission of Emerald

There are relatively few empirical studies on the workings of a cartel. The primary reason for this is that cartels are often illegal and therefore data are difficult to obtain. Even though antitrust agencies sometimes compile detailed information on cartels, strict confidentiality rules often keep data from academic research. A notable exception is the seminal work by Robert H. Porter (1983), which investigates price wars in a railroad cartel operating in the United States in the late nineteenth century.' More recently, David Genesove and Wallace P. Mullin (1998) use data from 1892 to 1914 of the American sugar industry, where the American Sugar Refining Company controlled (through acquisition) 95 percent of the U.S. sugar market by 1895. Finally, the so-called Lysine cartel, an industry producing feed additive used to ensure the proper growth of livestock, has provided more information on the workings of cartels' international settings (see James M. Griffin, 2001).

Copyright © 2006 by the American Economic Association.

This key note address examines the future of strategic management theory and practice. Specifically, the speech proposes that six "strategic leadership" tasks will take priority: dual strategies; putting vision and mission ahead of strategy; fit between market opportunity, leadership purpose and firm resources; strategy as the hinge between the changing external world and internal company resources; competition between entire business system; and delegation of strategy making to managers below corporate and business unit levels.

With permission of Elsevier

In general, as part of the ongoing discussion about the importance of business partnerships in industrial markets, specifically the paper seeks to comment on the Hunt et al. paper in this issue.

With permission of Emerald

An increased focus on operational performance and the reliance on fewer suppliers by industrial customers call for a higher quality of buyer-seller relationships. This article elaborates on economic explanations for value generated partnerships and describes the distinctive qualities of partnerships as something more than ordinary customer relationships. Particular attention is paid to the managerial implications and pitfalls awaiting companies when pursuing a partnership approach and a definition of vertical partnerships is provided.

With permission of Elsevier

In more and more industries it becomes true that value creating networks compete against each other with relatively stable relations between suppliers inside the network. Managers all over the world are searching for the most efficient and effective coordinative forms for their relations with OEM's or suppliers within such a value-creating networks. This paper gives a normative guideline to decide if or if not a partnership is the right coordinative form for OEM-supplier relations within a value-creating network. Based on the existing mainly positivistic research in this field, two aspects are highlighted as the main drivers for the suitability of a partnership as a well working governance mechanism for value-creating networks: (i) individualization vs. standardization of the delivered components combined with the potential of the end customers to identify quality differences or not and (ii) the possibilities to allocate the revenues made by the value-creating network on the several 'partners' within the network. All aspects were integrated in a decision model for managers to find out if partnership as the coordinative form is really the best choice in a given situation.

With permission of Elsevier