Managing Business Relationships


Book Description

No company is an island in the world of business. Each company is locked into a complex network of relationships with its customers, suppliers and other counterparts. What happens in these relationships is critical to the success of any business. Managing a company's relationships and its position in the network is a central, but often misunderstood aspect of business. This new edition of Managing Business Relationships aims to help managers and students understand the reality of business networks and how to manage in them. It has been entirely rewritten to include the latest thinking and research from the IMP (Industrial Marketing and Purchasing) Group and includes new chapters on Intermediation in Business Networks, the Economics of Business Relationships and the Practice of Business Networking. Features: • Provides a structured way to understand business networks and their meaning for the practicing manager. • Offers a complete analysis of management in different relationships including those with customers, suppliers, distributors and development counterparts. • Presents a practical analysis of the problems and choices that managers face in developing and changing their relationships and a guide to the critical skills of business networking. The book is vital reading for students of business marketing, purchasing, business networks and relationship management. It is also a valuable resource for all managers operating in business networks, including those in marketing, purchasing, strategy, technical development and distribution.




Business Relationships that Last


Book Description

Everyone knows that relationships are critical to business success, but no-one has provided a simple system to turn contacts and acquaintances into valuable assets -- until now. The first systematic program for advancing business relationships. In five easy-to-follow steps, the book shows how to transform any casual business relationship into a valuable source for revenue, leads, and advice. Ed Wallace combines memorable anecdotes with a clear theoretical framework that shows individuals how to leverage their hard business skills with the often-overlooked soft skills of rela-tionship building. Surveyed executives say they need this book. In a recent survey, 88 percent of executives indicated that the strength of their client, cus-tomer, and referral relationships was critical to achieving their goals each year. But only 25 percent of those same executives said they had a formal process for planning, managing, and growing business relation-ships and 73 percent of the group surveyed said they would be very interested in reading a book on this topic. This book delivers the process that so many people and organisations need.




Managing Business Relationships


Book Description

No company can be an island in today's business world. Each one is locked into a complex network of relationships with suppliers, customers and other business partners. To be effective, managers within companies must constantly assess these relationships and the intentions, actions and reactions of their counterparts within them. Indeed, managing its relationships and its position in the business network has become the critical task on which a company's very existence stands or falls. This new edition of Managing Business Relationships aims to help managers and students understand the reality of business networks and how to manage in them. It has been entirely rewritten to include the latest thinking and research from the IMP (Industrial Marketing and Purchasing) Group. The book * provides a structured way to understand business networks and their effect on the practicing manager. * offers a complete analysis of management in different relationships including those with suppliers, customers, distributors and development partners. * includes a brand new and easy to understand model of managing in networks. This book is vital reading for students of business marketing, purchasing, business networks and relationship management at the MBA and final year undergraduate level. It will also be a valuable resource for all managers operating in business markets, including those in purchasing, marketing, technical development and distribution.




Partnering with the Frenemy


Book Description

Selected as a finalist for the 2018 Leonard L. Berry Marketing Book Award! Why do crucial business partnerships and alliances fail so often and how can you keep it from happening to you? Partnering with the Frenemy answers these questions, helping you anticipate, prevent, and solve the problems that lead close business relationships to implode. Drawing on cutting-edge research, Sandy Jap illuminates the widespread “frenemy” phenomenon in organizational partnerships, where partners who start as non-competitive “friends” become “enemies” over time. She identifies key economical and structural causes of “frenemization,” in which success creates imbalances in power dynamics, leading partners to generate resentment, contempt, and often direct competition. She also illuminates crucial social causes for partnership failure, where seemingly innocuous acts of interpersonal opportunism and “sins of omission” gradually poison collaboration. To support her insights, she offers numerous case studies, both ongoing and historical, including Samsung/Google, Martha Stewart/Macy’s, Oracle/Sun Microsystems, Best Buy/Apple, Calvin Klein/Warnaco, and Nike/Footlocker. Most important, she offers specific recommendations for avoiding problems, revitalizing weakening partnerships, and recognizing when a partnership can’t be saved. IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT CONTRACTS AND MONEY Understand how to better manage emotions, suspicions, and expectations from Day 1 WHAT YOU CAN LEARN FROM OTHERS’ FAILING PARTNERSHIPS Anticipate, prevent, and mitigate the core causes of business relationship failure RECOGNIZE PARTNERING “OPPORTUNISM” BEFORE IT DESTROYS COLLABORATION Fix partnering problems while you still can IT’S NOT A MARRIAGE: HOW TO BECOME COMFORTABLE SAYING GOODBYE Know when to end a partnership, and how to part as “friends”




Business Relationships for Competitive Advantage


Book Description

This book provides the first summary and critical appraisal of the thinking that currently informs the management of business relationships, from the perspectives of both the buyer and supplier. The authors argue that these approaches are one-dimensional and instead recommend a more holistic approach based on power, interaction and portfolio perspectives. The book provides evidence of how relationships can be aligned and misaligned in practice, using eighteen examples drawn from a variety of business cases and circumstances.




Managing Customer Experience and Relationships


Book Description

Every business on the planet is trying to maximize the value created by its customers Learn how to do it, step by step, in this newly revised Fourth Edition of Managing Customer Experience and Relationships: A Strategic Framework. Written by Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, Ph.D., recognized for decades as two of the world's leading experts on customer experience issues, the book combines theory, case studies, and strategic analyses to guide a company on its own quest to position its customers at the very center of its business model, and to "treat different customers differently." This latest edition adds new material including: How to manage the mass-customization principles that drive digital interactions How to understand and manage data-driven marketing analytics issues, without having to do the math How to implement and monitor customer success management, the new discipline that has arisen alongside software-as-a-service businesses How to deal with the increasing threat to privacy, autonomy, and competition posed by the big tech companies like Facebook, Amazon, and Google Teaching slide decks to accompany the book, author-written test banks for all chapters, a complete glossary for the field, and full indexing Ideal not just for students, but for managers, executives, and other business leaders, Managing Customer Experience and Relationships should prove an indispensable resource for marketing, sales, or customer service professionals in both the B2C and B2B world.




Better Business Relationships


Book Description

Business success is usually reliant on being able to get along with people. No matter what the role in an organization, the ability to influence, persuade, change, motivate and encourage others to act effectively is vital. Better Business Relationships brings together a wealth of knowledge and practical advice, from psychology to communications and sales, to provide insight and guidance to both new and more experienced workers alike, who may be dealing with both internal colleagues and external clients and suppliers. As technology advances and automates business processes across industries and roles, communication skills and the ability to form meaningful, beneficial professional relationships is at risk of becoming a dying art. In the midst of the rise of social media, automation and artificial intelligence, there is worldwide concern that, as technology advances, we risk losing the human factors that are needed for individual and organizational success. Kim Tasso provides practical and essential insight on: · Understanding yourself and other people; · Learning how to change; · The fundamentals of good communication and relationships; · Working with people internally; and · Working with people externally. Better Business Relationships is ideal for anyone who wants to improve their relationships at work and gain a greater understanding of critical social and communications skills required to succeed in any professional environment.




Firm Competitive Advantage Through Relationship Management


Book Description

Relationship management (RM) is an essential part of business, but its success as a business model can be hard to measure, with some firms embracing a model that is truly relationship-orientated, while others claim to be relationship-orientated but in fact prefer transactional short-term gain. This open access book aims to develop a mid-range theory of relationship management, examining truly relationship-orientated firms to discover not only what qualities these firms have that make them successful at the RM model, but also what benefits this model has for the firm. It addresses questions like how RM-mature companies achieve and sustain competitive advantage, and what determines the scale and scope of these firms, illustrating with case studies. This book will be of interest to scholars studying leadership and strategy, especially those interested in relationship management, business ethics and corporate social responsibility. It will also be of interest to professionals looking to develop their understanding of relationship management.




Be Kind, Not Nice


Book Description

Are you frustrated in your relationships? Are you an employee, manager or boss? Are you parent, teacher or caregiver? Are you a sibling, friend or part of a couple? In this book, Dr. Marcia Sirota gives you the straight talk with real-life stories, deep psychological insights and practical, easy-to-apply tools to rebuild your self-esteem and stop trying so hard to make other people happy. In Be Kind, Not Nice, you'll discover how: To escape the vicious circle of people pleasing, being mistreated, frustration and addiction To become a more compassionate, kind person To love and accept yourself first To take better care of yourself and live a more authentic, empowered life To create positive, successful relationships at home, school and work If you're a people-pleaser and can't stop being nice, this book is for you. We use words like kindness and nice every day without ever really thinking about what they may actually mean. By deconstructing two seemingly simple words in an attempt to define them, this book opens a doorway to a deep meditation on self-forgiveness, healing and true personal potential. - Jeff de Boer, metal artist and creator of suits of armour for mice Every page of Dr. Marcia Sirota's new book reflects her own intelligence and compassion. Be Kind, Not Nice offers the kind of encouragement we all need - not rooted in fantasy or wishful thinking, but based in a truth that is unlocked with greater understanding of ourselves and our own potential. You are amazing, and Dr. Sirota can prove it. - David Hopkins, author of We Miss All the Great Parties Finally, a book that champions your success. Don't miss out on even one more day of getting all you want in life.




Managing Strategic Relationships


Book Description

Based on cutting-edge theory and approach, this book by a Dartmouth business professor challenges the existing paradigm, and lays out the key elements for a highly successful business. 20 charts and graphs.