BTECH research seminar

Ismail Golgeci
Associate Professor
Department of Business Development and Technology
Aarhus University
Pure profile

Unlocking the Link between Relationship Duration and Product Failure in Retail Channels: The Role of Market Orientation and Brand Diffusion

Abstract
Despite the increasing possibility and threat of product failure in retail channels, little is known about the relationship-specific and supplier-related antecedents of product failure. Drawing on the extant research on buyer-supplier relationships, brand management, and market orientation (MO) in business-to-business markets, our research explores the antecedents of product failure in retail channels and unlocks the link between relationship duration and product failure by examining the role of MO and brand diffusion. Testing our hypotheses by using a combination of primary data with both objective and subjective measures and proprietary objective data from a sample of suppliers to a large British supermarket, we reveal interesting findings. Our findings indicate that the supplier’s brand diffusion in retail stores is an essential means of utilizing relationship duration between suppliers and retailers to reduce product failure in retail stores. Interestingly, we also find that MO plays opposite moderating roles in the links between relationship duration, brand diffusion, and product failure in that it strengthens the negative influence of relationship duration on product failure, while it weakens the positive influence of relationship duration on brand diffusion.