Theory suggests that culture may der the ability to effectively standardize
the process of relationship development strategies across intra- and inter
-cultural relationships. Construct relationships between trust, commitment,
conflict and satisfaction in manufacturer-distributor relationships are ex
amined intra- (i.e., within a single cultural type) and inter-culturally (i
.e,, between different cultural types) with a sample of distributors from C
anada, Chile, Mexico and the United States, Results support theoretical dif
ferences in the consequences of the trust-commitment relationship between i
ntra-cultural and in ter-cultural relationships. The results suggest proces
s standardization based upon cultural type.