The performance of a relationship between two firms can be view in the following way. The Business-to-Business Relationship Performance scale is presented as a high order concept. Managers operating in a B2B e-marketplace, findings reveal that greater relationship performance results in better 1) relationship policies and practices, 2) relationship commitment, 3) trust in the relationship, 4) mutual cooperation, as well as 5) satisfaction with the relationship. The multi-dimensional scale shows strong evidence of reliability as well as convergent, discriminate and nomological validity.
It is also reveal that B2B relationship performance is positively and significantly associated with loyalty. While building on this scale. Today firms have a wide range of tools and metrics at their disposal to assess periodic performance, and they represent a critical topic in business literature and across different fields of management research. However, although both worlds are interested in the topic of metrics, the way academics and managers discuss it is quite different. Frequently practitioners have different expectations and work with different time scales than those of academics.
Moreover, it is not normally concerned with the analysis and development of metrics that might be applied at the managerial level and included in management periodic reports. The marketing trend towards a better understanding of relationship development with business partners continues to grow, as managers and researchers observe that better relationships result in a significant impact on business performance.
The development of customer relationship is an ongoing process during which relational policies and practices, trust, relationship commitment, mutual cooperation, and satisfaction with the relationship represent important dimensions to be considered. The need for enhanced corporate reputation and trust-based relationship becomes more crucial in an environment of less traditional relationship coalition, relational history, and interpersonal communication.
The new medium is fostering transitional relationship, and easy access to information and forum to critique, criticize or condemn an institution. The practice of hiding nothing is preferred because there is no where to hide. Ethics and truth, unqualified reputation and transparent honesty, therefore, become very important in the new marketplace made up of institutions and empowered consumers and stakeholders.
Proactively, rather than reactivity, becomes a very important business mantra in the postmodern digital world economy. It is easier to create and maintain reputation and trust than try to regain them. Computer technology has altered the power structure and the relationship between corporations and their publics, stakeholders and the media. Internet may be creating a shift from the traditional vertical and horizontal corporate communication paradigms.