Partnerships versus typical relationships between wood products distributors and their manufacturer suppliers

Many empirical articles about channel relationships have been published in the literature. However, Weitz and Jap (29) highlight the lack of systematic research on the specific activities that comprise a partnering relationship in business-to-business markets. In this article, we present the results of a programmatic collective effort by a group of scholars seeking to address this question using a case-study approach. The outcome of the research was the development of a framework of partnership structure as defined by the activities of highly successful partnering firms in contrast to average or typical interfirm relationships (23). In this study, business relationships between wood product distributors and their manufacturer suppliers were examined. One contribution of this study is an inventory, or profile, of partnering activities as they are manifested in the manufacturer/distributor channel in the wood products industry.