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

6.2 The early years of the business relationship 1970- 1990The business relationship between the two companies started in the late sixties. In thebeginning of the 70’ s the first ship was built at the Seller shipyard. The ship was launched inthe fall of 1970 and was the first of a series of three ships. The rest of the series were builtduring 1970-1972. The next ship was launched in 1982, some 10 years after the first seriesof ships. In the mid 1980’ s there was a break in the new building projects, as the Buyerordered three ships at a shipyard in France. This foreign order was because the companywanted to get experience from other shipyards. At the time the French shipyard, Chantiersde l’ Atlantique, was keen to get into the cruise ship segment and was willing to offer alower price to get the deal. The Seller was not able to compete with the price so the shipsgot Pielstick main engines and the Seller auxiliary engines. Already at that time the Sellerwas not among the least expensive alternatives on the market.“ Internally we tended to say that they (the Buyer) never dared to go into a meetingwith the Seller, because it always cost them 100 000 dollars to go to a meeting. Therewere always new, extra costs coming up” (Interview: Seller 8).In 1988 the Buyer became an American company as a consequence of events that occurredwhen one of the owners wanted to sell his share of the company. When his wish to sellbecame public, one of the other owners also wanted to get out. This owner was a companythat had already moved out of the country to have its head quarters in London andconcentrated on tankers and ships for transporting gas. Consequently Mr NN was left alone;he had one month to come up with the money to be able to buy the shares of the two ownerswho wanted to sell their shares of the company. A major competitor had placed an offer forthe shares, but Mr NN did not want to give the company into the hands of the competition;finally he was able to find investors in America. An American family invested in thecompany and brought in the needed capital. This is how the Buyer became partly American.Later the majority of the ownership has shifted to American hands.Before the company became American in 1988 the relationship between the Seller andthe Buyer was said to be very good and informal. It was said that during those times thepeople from the Buyer often came to the Seller’ s production site where they had informalget togethers in a relaxed atmosphere. Today the Buyer is said to be a typical Americancustomer, demanding and professional.“ At the time we had very good contacts with them… we went in and out in theirheadoffice as if it were our own house” (Interview: Seller 8).102