Course syllabus
School of Business and Economics
Relationer, interaktioner och nätverk
Relationships, Interactions and Networks
Course Code: 3FFE02
ECTS credits 7,5
Level: Advanced Level, Doctoral Course
Objectives
On completion of the course, students should be able to:
- understand and on an advanced level be able to critically analyse how a relationship-building
marketing strategy creates competition advantages
- understand and on an advanced level be able to critically analyse how relationships, networks and
alliances are created
- understand and on an advanced level be able to critically analyse the importance of both
theoretical and practical partnerships and alliances for the building of networks, with both dynamic
and stability as structural prerequisites
- understand and on an advanced level be able to critically analyse the possibilities and difficulties of
cooperating/coordinate between different companies with different cultural prerequisites within the
so-called cooperation for competition and the collaborative approach
- independently gather, process, analyse and criticise the content of theories and articles
Content
The course is built on the following three areas:
1. Relationship processes and relationship-creating activities
2. Interaction perspectives and approach
3. Industrial network perspectives and approach
The whole concept of relationships, strategic networks and alliances has, for a long time, been neglected
by companies, but is now something that is taken very seriously. In the continued direction towards deregulation,
when threats from competitors are greater but also where the opportunity to win new markets increases, more
and more time has been dedicated to a so-called Total Relationship Management (TRM) approach. TRM can be
translated by creating, interpreting, maintaining and increasing positive, long-lasting close relationships and
interactions between companies and their internal and external customers/partners. The collaborative
approach proposes a partnership with a win-win relationship. The collaborative approach includes networks,
coordination, integration, links and interaction between different actors.
Forms of Teaching and Language
Seminars, lectures and assignments in Swedish and/or English.
Forms of Examination
Examinations are carried out in the form of written papers. The oral and written presentation of students’
own work is included as a part of the examination. What is more, written and oral opposition of other
students’ work will be included in the assessment. For a grade of Pass on the entire course, students must
receive a grade of Pass on at least 4 of 5 possible papers.
The course is assessed with the grades Fail or Pass in accordance with the ECTS grading scale.
Entry Requirements
Acceptance to third-cycle studies at Social Sciences/Humanities Faculty
or general entry requirements for third-cycle studies.
Course Literature and other Teaching Aids
Books
Håkansson, H., Snehota, I., (1995) Developing Relationships in Business Networks, Routledge,
Download: http://www.impgroup.org/uploads/books/0-415-11570-1.pdf
Jansson, H. (2007) International Business Marketing in Emerging Country Markets. The Third Wave
of Internationalization of Firms", Edward Elgar. 238 pages
Jarvis, J. .What would Google do? (2009), HarperLuxe, NY, 433 pages
Zineldin, M. et al (2012), Relationship management for the future, Studentlitteratur, 350 pages
Articles
Relationships and Interactions
Barringer, R., B., Harrison S., J. (2000), Creating value through interorganizational relationships,
Journal of Management, vol. 23, 367-403
Johanson, J. and J.-E. Vahlne, (2009), ”The Uppsala Internationalization Process Model Revisited:
From Liability of Foreignness to Liability of Outsidership”, Journal of International Business Studies,
Vol. 40, No. 9.
Mattyssens, P and Van den Bullte, C. (1994),Getting Closer and Nicer: Partnerships in the Supply
Chain, Long Range Planning, vol 27, no 1, 72-83
Ross Jr., W. T., Robertson, D. C. (2007), Compound Relationships Between Firms, Journal of
Marketing, vol. 71, 108-123
Stafford, E. And Hartman, G. (1997), Green Allinaces: Building New Business With Environmental
Groups, Long Range Planning, vol 30, no.2, 184-196
Zineldin, M. 2004. Co-opetition: the organisation of the future, Marketing Intelligence & Planning
22(7): 780-790.
Zineldin, M. (2002) "Developing and managing a romantic business relationship: life cycle and
strategies", Managerial Auditing Journal, Vol. 17 Iss: 9, pp.546 – 558
Zineldin, M. Abraha, D. & Vasicheva, V. (2008). Establishment Processes and Building Relationships
In Latin American Countries – The Case of Swedish Firms in Mexico, International Journal of
Automotive Industry and Management (IJIAM), Vol. 2, Number 1, pp. 23-47
Networks and Relationships
Davern, M. (1997), Social networks and economic sociology, American Journal of Economics and
Sociology, vol. 6, no 3
Ehret, M., (2004) Managing the trade-off between relationships and value networks. Towards a
value-based approach of customer relationship management in business-to-business markets,
Industrial Marketing Management, vol. 33, 465-473
Ford, D., Håkansson, H., et al. Managing Networks, Download
http://www.impgroup.org/uploads/papers/4198.pdf
Foss, N. (1999),Networks, Capabilities, and Competitive Advantage, Scandinavian Journal of
Management, 15, 1-15
Håkansson, H. and Snehota, I. (1989)No Business is an Island: The network Concept of Business
Strategy, Scand. J. Mgmt. Vol. 5, no 3. 187-200
Zineldin, M. (1998), Towards an Ecological Collaborative Relationship Management: A ”Co-Opetive”
Perspective, European Journal of Maketing, vol. 32, no 11/12, 1138-1164
Zineldin, M. and Dodourova, M. (2005) "Motivation, achievements and failure of strategic alliances:
The case of Swedish auto-manufacturers in Russia", European Business Review, Vol. 17 Iss: 5, pp.460
– 470
Trust and Commitment
Cannon, J. And Doney, P. (1997), An Examination of the Nature of trust in Buyer-Seller relationships,
Journal of Marketing, Vol 61 (April), 35-51
Cote, J. and Latham K C. (2006), Trust and Commitment: Intangible Drivers of Interorganizational
Performance, in Marc J. Epstein, John Y. Lee (ed.) 15 (Advances in Management Accounting, Volume
15, 293-325
Friman, M. et al., (2000) An analysis of international business to business relationships based on the
Commitment-Trust theory, Industrial Marketing Management (2002), vol. 31, 403-409
Hunt, S. & Morgan. R. (1994)The Commitment-trust Theory of Relationship Marketing, Journal of
Marketing, Vol. 58 (July), 20-28
Wong, A. and Sohal, A. (2002) ‘An examination of the relationship between trust, commitment and
relationship quality’, International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Vol. 30, No. 1,
pp.34–50.
Zineldin, M. and Jonsson,P. (2000) "An examination of the main factors affecting trust/commitment
In supplier-dealer relationships: an empirical study of the Swedish wood industry", The TQM
Magazine, Vol. 12 Iss: 4, pp.245 – 266
Course Evaluation
The course is evaluated continuously throughout the course through discussions with the
participants with the aim of maintaining continued quality development..