Managers have long known intuitively that relationships are important to business. Inudcertain cultures, such as in the East, the emphasis on relationships may typically be moreudexplicit, but a good salesperson knows that building trust and commitment with buyersudare essential for long-term success. The role of interpersonal and firm factors onudinternational business relationships are tested with data from 125 pairs of exporterimporter relationships. Drawing from relational exchange theory, personal (such asudeffective communication, cultural sensitivity and likability of partner) and firm (such asudreputation and competencies of partner) factors are modeled as determinants ofudcommitment and trust in such relationships. The findings support the overall model,udhighlighting the importance of interpersonal and firm factors to international businessudrelationships. This research highlights the importance of personal and organisationaludfactors that are linked to building trust and commitment. In particular, building,udprotecting and communicating a positive reputation, and ensuring strong marketingudcompetencies, are important for building contractual and competence trust. The studyudhighlights the importance of interpersonal factors and thus the need to have appropriateudpersonnel involved in the developing and maintaining international businessudrelationships.
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