Value Co-Creation in Industrial Buyer-Seller Partnerships ... - Doria

In 1997 when Mr BR9 got the position of managing operations at the Buyer, the companywas struggling with high operating costs and was trying to find ways to lower them. This iswhen the first discussions of a widened and deepened cooperation between the twocompanies were initiated by the customer. The two companies tried to find a way to takecare of the service and maintenance of the Buyer ś fleet within the frames of a serviceagreement. However, the discussions did not turn out satisfactorily from either party’ s view.As a result of this the Buyer made the decision to start building up its own service andmaintenance organization in-house, which meant a loss of business for the Seller serviceorganization in the US.In 2000 a partnership agreement between the Seller and the Buyer was signed. Mr BR9at the Buyer initially took the initiative to the agreement at a time when he had recentlybeen appointed manager of operations at the Buyer. By coincidence it so happened that atthe same time the Buyer was experiencing several problems with engines and even someengine breakdowns. According to Mr BR9 himself he felt helpless and desperately neededsomeone, a reliable partner with whom to share his concern and responsibility. This wasone of the triggers for the initiative to start discussing a partnership between the twocompanies. A period referred to as the “ interesting epoch” between the companies started in1997, when Mr BR9 and Mr SR1&2 started interacting in the relationship. These two menhad a shared vision of what a partnership was and what they wanted such a partnership toachieve. Still today, these two men are the main drivers of the partnership between the twocompanies.In the 1980 ś and 1990 ś, Mr BR9 had been working for a Scandinavian shippingcompany. During his time as manager of operations at this company, he had done businesswith the Seller. Among other things, he was the first customer for the Seller XX-type enginefor an installation at NN in the 1980 ś. According to Mr BR9 the relationship with the Sellerduring these times was very good. Interaction and communication were informal andsmooth. Most issues were solved at joint informal sauna sessions. Thus the relationshipbetween Mr BR9 and the Seller has been built up during several years of interaction in thepast.In the following sections I present a more detailed and thorough description of thedevelopment of the relationship from a more transactional –type of business interaction towhat presently, 30 years later, is referred to as a partnership.101