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

Public visibility and reference valueThe Seller perceives the Buyer as being a good reference when working within the shippingindustry. It is advantageous for the Seller to be associated with the cruise industry becauseof the “ glamour” and visibility of the industry. Another side to the matter it is that severaldifferent environment activist groups carefully watch upon the cruise industry. This is whythe cruise companies stress the importance of environmental considerations, which gives theBuyer an incentive to develop more environmentally friendly technologies, which in turnforces the Seller to develop its products.“ I think the cruise industry, as a whole is a very important industry for the Seller tostay on top of. First of all, I can tell you from working with other types of ship ownersand with power plants. The thing about the cruise industry is they have a lot ofmoney.(… ) There’s a good cash flow. There’s a tremendous market. There’stremendous potential for growth… . Whereas the cruise lines have a differentphilosophy. Their interest is to spend the money on keeping their equipment runningfor the maximum amount. They’ re not afraid, they’re not only worried aboutproduction, but they are worried about production capability. Because if you’ re onlyworried about production, you just keep the engines running as much as possible, doas little maintenance as possible until… but you can see in the cruise industry as awhole because of the reliability factor, you have people’s lives at stake.” (Interview:Seller 4).” ... it is a prestigious shipping company, there is no question about that. It is quite niceto show pictures of the Buyer’s ship in presentations and talk about references. I didthat both in Chile and Brazil last week when I presented the Seller. I demonstratedwhat the biggest power plant in Manaus has in common with the world’s largest cruiseship. And that is quite flashy, so it is clearly a benefit in positioning ourselves on themarket, something that we gladly hold on to.” (Interview: Seller 6)Time and effort dedicated – less time for other customersAs has been stated before, based on empirical studies high-involvement relationships areresource demanding. It takes time and resources to communicate, coordinate, and innovatei.e. to be involved. One of the sacrifices, perceived by the Seller, made for the Buyerrelationship is the time and effort dedicated to the relationship. This is connected to the lastpoint in the list of sacrifices, namely “ having less time for other customers” . It is clear thatthe time spent with one customer is less time spent with another customer.148