Assessing the quality of any relationship has remained a problematic issue
in spite of the recognized importance of relationships within business-to-b
usiness marketing, and this paper attempts to redress this shortcoming. Wor
king with a group of 40 executives, and utilizing conjoint analysis, we exp
lore this complex area by first identifying five underlying dimensions of h
igh quality business-to-business relationships: trust; needs fulfilment; su
pply chain integration; power; and profit. Our preliminary results indicate
that there is no one measure of just what constitutes a good relationship.
Rather, there are potentially four different types of "good" relationship,
each composed of different blends of these five attributed. (C) 2000 Elsev
ier Science Inc. All rights reserved.