160 The Marketing Book
In the brief description of the four areas
which follows, we shall emphasize how the
interaction model stresses the importance of the
individual and the level of his/her inter-
personal and intercompany skills.
The interactive process
Relationships between buyers and sellers can be
broken into a series of episodes. Each episode
contributes to the overall relationship, which
will be developed over a greater period of time.
These episodes can be considered in terms of
elements of exchange. For example, the
exchange of the actual product or service, the
exchange of information, the exchange of money
or social exchanges. The greater the extent of
uncertainty concerning these elements, the more
likely that increased interaction will take place
to resolve these uncertainties and allow the
parties to become familiar with each other and
develop mutual trust.
The occurrence of episodes over time can
lead to the interaction becoming routinized and
to preconceptions regarding the role set of both
individuals and organizations. Such routine
patterns of behaviour may become character-
istic of a single relationship or else of a whole
industry. Mutual adaptations may occur
between buyers and sellers which will result in
cost reductions or some other advantage. The
existence of such adaptations can serve to bring
each party closer together. This can therefore
act as a major influence on changing marketing
or buying policies.
The participants
Interaction occurs between organizations and
individuals, and is dependent on the nature of
the organization and its members. Relevant
factors may be the firm’s technology, size,
experience and structure, or the individual’s
motives, attitudes and perceptions. These fac-
tors have already been discussed at some
length in previous sections.
The environment
The interaction process takes place in the
general prevailing environmental conditions,
which will determine certain norms of behav-
iour and values. Particularly relevant factors
may be the market structure, social systems or
economic conditions, and the degree of inter-
nationalization of the economy and/or the
industry.The atmosphere
The outcome of a relationship is the atmos-
phere which results from the various exchanges
and adaptations. The atmosphere refers specifi-
cally to the degree of closeness between the
buyer and seller, which will be reflected in the
level of conflict or co-operation in their inter-
action. The nature of the atmosphere can be
planned. The development of a close relation-
ship with a ‘good atmosphere’ may result in
advantageous conditions for the buyer and
seller. However, in order to avoid power
dependence, where one party becomes vulner-
able to the power of the other, the ‘closeness’ of
the atmosphere may be regulated and in some
circumstances a company may deliberately
choose to have a distant, even confrontational,
style of relationship.
The interaction model focuses on the rela-
tionships between individuals both within and
between firms. It portrays dynamic and devel-
oping relationships, which approximate to the
reality of organizational purchasing, in a way
that none of the previous models are able to do.
In so doing, it presents a more complex picture
of organizational buying and offers a challenge
to the researcher to find a universal pattern of
relationships from which to build a compre-
hensive model.
Metcalfet al. (1992) have shown how the
interaction approach is a valuable paradigm for
analysing the relationship development of air-
craft engine suppliers and aircraft manufactur-
ing customers, whilst Turnbull and Valla
(1986a, b) developed a strategic planning model