A Construct, a Methodology for Measurement, and a Modeling Technique

Managing collaborative business-to-business relationships demands an understanding of how relationships create value for the firm and a method to accurately assess that value. The purpose of this research is to propose a new construct, expected relationship value, and an innovative method for its measurement. The proposed methodology relies on qualitative research techniques to gather dispersed organizational knowledge about the relationship. The results of the interviews then serve as input to a quantitative model using a Monte-Carlo simulation to operationalize expected relationship value as a probability distribution of the net present value of current and future relationship outcomes. © 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved. INTRODUCTION