M in product design and flexible supply chains is increasingly common in buyer–supplier relationships. Although the benefits of supply chain flexibility and component modularity for end-product manufacturers are accepted, little is known about their impact on suppliers. We advance the literature on modularity by exploring how three aspects of a supplier’s relationships with its customers affect...

This paper examines the resources and the liabilities that can be associated with relationships between new and growing firms and their customers. Given the absence of prior work on the subject, a grounded theory methodology was adopted. The theory developed suggests that significant customers, with whom the firm may have relationships of varying kinds, can provide critical financial, informati...

Information systems (IS) outsourcing relationships are determined by uncertainties and changing business environments for both client and vendor over a long-term outsourcing lifecycle. Although IS outsourcing arrangements have been widely researched, little attention has been paid to how changing business circumstances and resulting customer demands can be systematically assessed, considered, a...

Article history: Received 9 August 2011 Received in revised form 11 June 2012 Accepted 14 June 2012 Available online 21 June 2012 In this paper,we examinewhether a firm's relationshipwith its principal customers/suppliers affects its payout policies. A firm has customer–supplier relationshipswhen its business depends on a small number of major customers/suppliers. The extant literature indicate...

Social media have enjoyed a rapidly increasing adoption among users in recent years. Millions of users execute billions of actions (in form of tweets, messages, replies, likes, etc.) every day. The massive amount of social interactions online has contributed to the proliferation of social advertising. Alongside the interest in online and social advertising, Twitter has introduced several advert...

Companies spend enormous resources on customer relationship management (CRM), but there is no clear understanding on two seemingly simple, but critical questions: (1) Should firms reward or punish their current customers? (2) Can CRM be profitable in a competitive setting? While CRM practitioners are enthusiastic about its win-win potential for firms and customers, the extant theoretical litera...

Trust is a concept that has been widely studied in e-commerce since it represents a key issue in building successful customer-supplier relationships. In this sense, social software represents a powerful channel for establishing a direct communication with customers. As a consequence, companies are now investing in social media for building their social digital brand and strengthening relationsh...