Managing interaction for learning and value creation in exchange relationships

Firms create value by establishing and maintaining appropriate exchange relationships. However, beyond the generally recognized importance of trust and commitment, there is a lack of specific cues as to how such value creation can be managed. In an attempt to gain more insight this study examines the success formulas in three different types of interactions in exchange relationships. The purpose is to investigate how different types of interactions can be managed so that buyer firms make important contributions to the development of their suppliers' capabilities. The study empirically examines how inter-organizational management facilitates value creation in three different types of interactions in exchange relationships: unilateral learning, unilateral development, and bilateral learning. This study uses a partial least squares analysis (PLS) to analyze survey data from 142 exchange relationships in the seafood industry. The main contribution to the literature is the assessment of how various types of inter-organizational management promote value-creation initiatives (such as information supply and coaching), and ultimately, value creation.

Research Highlights
► Relational management lead to more collaborative learning than other management types.
► Different forms of collaborative learning require different value-creation initiatives.
► Suppliers can develop their capabilities without engaging in the most advanced interaction types with customer firms.