Business relationships are of a great importance in industrial markets and this phenomenon has been studied extensively. As a crucial condition for an effective operation of business relationships, numerous studies stress out the importance of a good communication between actors, especially today in the age of globalization and internationalization of businesses.
All the studies emphasize that high quality communication, in terms of frequency and richness of information is necessary for developing strong relationships between buyers and suppliers. The development of successful business relationships, which is very critical in business-to-business marketing, greatly depends on the quality and quantity of information exchange.
During the last decade, the internet has gained attention in a number of studies due to its influence on organizations' communication and business. These studies clearly indicate that the usage of the internet in communication contributes to the enhancement of business relationships. We found that the usage of the internet in communication between suppliers and buyers resulted with increased overall communication in relationships.
The usage of the internet leads to improved quality of communication in a relationship. Hence, since quality of communication affects quality of a relationship, it can be argued that the usage of the internet in communication enhances relationship quality. Moreover increased communication between organizations strengthens their relationship and boosts efficiency. While a number of studies emphasize that, in business relationships, person-to-person communication is of vital importance, recent studies indicate that internet -based channels are becoming the basis of many new relationships. As a result, comparison of the internet with face-to-face contacts has been discussed greatly concluding that the internet is not a substitute for the face-to-face communication but rather a complement. In addition face-to-face communication is a crucial prerequisite for the successful usage of the electronic communication media.
However, although unquestionably the internet is not a replacement for the face-to-face communication, its increased usage in a business communication calls for an additional scientific attention. The area of the internet has been studied extensively in the marketing literature and several groups of studies can be identified. One group of studies deals with an impact of the internet on the marketing discipline in general. Also, an area of interest was internet as a relationship-marketing tool. Further, in the business-to-business setting specifically, a group of studies examines an impact of the internet on business-to-business marketing and categorization of business-to-business websites. Additionally, a group of studies focuses on the usefulness and the frequency of the usage of the internet in the B-to-B context.
Lately, an increasing number of studies deal with an impact of the internet on business-to-business relationship components, such as trust, commitment and satisfaction. However, although the usage of the internet in business has evidently stimulated many studies, certain gaps in the research can be identified. These gaps point towards a lack of the research that explores the characteristics of internet communication throughout the relationship development process.
In general, the field of internet communication demands more research, especially since it is characterized by great changes and developments. Next, majority of studies on the internet in business-to-business context focuses merely on a process of purchasing, but not on a process of a relationship development and on stages through which this process evolves.
All the studies emphasize that high quality communication, in terms of frequency and richness of information is necessary for developing strong relationships between buyers and suppliers. The development of successful business relationships, which is very critical in business-to-business marketing, greatly depends on the quality and quantity of information exchange.
During the last decade, the internet has gained attention in a number of studies due to its influence on organizations' communication and business. These studies clearly indicate that the usage of the internet in communication contributes to the enhancement of business relationships. We found that the usage of the internet in communication between suppliers and buyers resulted with increased overall communication in relationships.
The usage of the internet leads to improved quality of communication in a relationship. Hence, since quality of communication affects quality of a relationship, it can be argued that the usage of the internet in communication enhances relationship quality. Moreover increased communication between organizations strengthens their relationship and boosts efficiency. While a number of studies emphasize that, in business relationships, person-to-person communication is of vital importance, recent studies indicate that internet -based channels are becoming the basis of many new relationships. As a result, comparison of the internet with face-to-face contacts has been discussed greatly concluding that the internet is not a substitute for the face-to-face communication but rather a complement. In addition face-to-face communication is a crucial prerequisite for the successful usage of the electronic communication media.
However, although unquestionably the internet is not a replacement for the face-to-face communication, its increased usage in a business communication calls for an additional scientific attention. The area of the internet has been studied extensively in the marketing literature and several groups of studies can be identified. One group of studies deals with an impact of the internet on the marketing discipline in general. Also, an area of interest was internet as a relationship-marketing tool. Further, in the business-to-business setting specifically, a group of studies examines an impact of the internet on business-to-business marketing and categorization of business-to-business websites. Additionally, a group of studies focuses on the usefulness and the frequency of the usage of the internet in the B-to-B context.
Lately, an increasing number of studies deal with an impact of the internet on business-to-business relationship components, such as trust, commitment and satisfaction. However, although the usage of the internet in business has evidently stimulated many studies, certain gaps in the research can be identified. These gaps point towards a lack of the research that explores the characteristics of internet communication throughout the relationship development process.
In general, the field of internet communication demands more research, especially since it is characterized by great changes and developments. Next, majority of studies on the internet in business-to-business context focuses merely on a process of purchasing, but not on a process of a relationship development and on stages through which this process evolves.
No comments:
Post a Comment