SELLING ALLIANCES - ISSUES AND INSIGHTS

Selling alliances are one of the new organizational responses to the i ncreased complexity faced by firms in high technology and other dynami c industries. This article draws on a series of in-depth interviews to uncover selling alliance management issues, The article then reports the results of an empirical investigation of one key issue: What diffe rentiates effective from ineffective relationships between partner sal es representatives? Results suggest that open communication trust, and perceived interdependence are critical factors that differentiate hig h, medium, and low performing selling partner relationships; organizat ion compatibility factors do not, The management implications of these findings are discussed. (C) Elsevier Science Inc., 1997.