research. Hald et al. (2009) proposed attractiveness as being a function
of perceived expected value, perceived trust, and dependence and La
Rocca et al. (2012) proposed customer attraction as exhibiting four factors:
development potential, intimacy, relational fit, and profitability (La
Rocca et al., 2012). Perceived expected value, development potential,
and profitability are similar to what we identified as economic-based
drivers of attractiveness. In turn, perceived trust, dependence, intimacy,
and relational fit are close to the behavior-based drivers. Based on the
literature, Harris et al. (2003) proposed that attraction is a function of
the economic, resource, and social content of exchange. These drivers
of attraction were found also in the single case study of Mortensen
and Arlbjørn (2012). The economic and resource contents of attraction
emerged similarly in our study, and social content is closely related to
behavior-based drivers of this study. The empirical study of Harris
et al. (2003) among legal professionals further showed that this simple
categorization may be misleading and that the elements of attraction
depict the complementarity of the performance domain, legitimate
and reward power, reputation and socio-sexual attraction. Our divergent
empirical observations may be explained by a different empirical
context and approach. Whereas the study of Harris et al. (2003) was
carried out among legal sector professional services, which represent
“the nexus of interpersonal, organizational and role relationships”
(Harris et al., 2003, p. 15), we focused on analyzing strategic relationships
between manufacturing firms at the organizational level. In turn,
our findings converge with those of Christiansen and Maltz (2002)
who studied buyer–supplier relationships in a similar context, and
found that buyer can shape attractiveness by working with suppliers
to open newmarkets (related to bridging-based attractiveness), acquiring
knowledge of newtechnology (related to resource-based attractiveness),
and helping suppliers to cut costs (related to economic-based
attractiveness).
We identified that the importance of different bases of attractiveness
is contingent upon the strategic intention of the firm in the BSR. This
finding is consistent with SET, which holds that attractiveness is an attribute
not of an actor, but of a relationship (Emerson, 1976), and supports
the argument of Ellegaard et al. (2003) that different suppliers
need different approaches in attractiveness.Weused research on exploration
and exploitation (Gupta et al., 2006; Lavie & Rosenkopf, 2006;
March, 1991; Raisch et al., 2009) to conceptualize the differences between
the firms' strategic intents in the relationships. This framework
helped us to explain why and how the different bases of attractiveness
played very different roles in different studied BSRs.When the strategic
intent was purely exploitative, economic-based drivers dominated the
perceived attractiveness. The more explorative the strategic intent
was, the more emphasis was put on resource- and bridging-based
drivers of attractiveness. Behavior-based drivers were present in all relationships
but were less important when the strategic intent was primarily
exploitative. Harris et al. (2003) proposed that changes in
attraction may lead to subsequent changes in strategic intent. Thus,
there may be a two-way relationship between strategic intent and attractiveness:
strategic intent determines what makes a partner attractive,
and a partner's attractiveness may influence strategic intent.
The case analysis suggests that the best fit is achieved in relationships
where the strategic intents of the buyer and the supplier are
close to one another in the relationship. Previous studies have found
strategic fit to be the main predictor of a relational mechanism in business
relationships (Lavie, Haunschild, & Khanna, 2012;Wilkinson et al.,
2005) and cultural fit as being a key success factor in buyer–supplier relationships
(Ishizaka & Blakiston, 2012; Kannan & Tan, 2002). Our study
contributes to this streamof the literature by showing that the fit of the
strategic intent of a relationship affects relationship success.We further
propose that it is important to communicate one's own strategic intents
and to understand the other party's strategic intents so that both parties
can determine whether they are attractive to one another. Understanding
the different bases of attractiveness helps in this process.Within the
limits of its resources and capabilities, a company can choose howit appears
in each relationship. The same firm can, for example, shape its
behavior-based attractiveness in one relationship and bridging-based
attractiveness in another relationship at the same time. Fit is thus a
question not only of choosing the right partner but also of communicating
clearly what is expected from the other party and adapting to the
other party's expectations.
The cases do show that the relationships can work when the strategic
intents differ, even well, but it is more likely that at least one party
will perceive the relationship as unsuccessful. This finding is consistent
with the observation of Lavie et al. (2012) that partners who acknowledge
their differences can overcome some of the negative consequences
of relationship performance. We observed that when strategic intent
differs, themore powerful party decideswhether collaborative developmentwill
occur, and theweaker party is likely to be disappointed in the
relationship. If, however, the weaker party is the supplier, it may find
collaborative development advantageous even though itwill not realize
any direct operational benefits from it. Of the studied cases, the fit was
poorest in the PharCo–BulkMf dyad, in which collaboration was desired
by the buyer, the weaker party in the relationship. The supplier proved
unwilling, and neither party was satisfied with the relationship.
Based on empirical observations, we argue that suppliers' and
buyers' attractiveness results from their economic-, behavior-,
resource-, and bridging-based characteristics as perceived by the relationship
partner and how these characteristics support the partner's
strategic intent in the BSR. The situational nature of attractiveness was
clear in this study.MobInfra's attractivenesswas different fromthe perspectives
of HitecCo and ContrMan, and PharCo's attractivenesswas different
from the perspectives of BulkMf and PacCo. A buyer's
attractiveness in a relationship can also differ from a supplier's attractiveness
in a BSR, making the relationship asymmetrical. According to
SET, attractiveness asymmetry affects power balance because rewards
and costs gained from the relationship are major determinants of
power (Emerson, 1962). However, the implications of attractiveness
asymmetry to the power-dependence relationships were out of our
scope, providing an interesting avenue for further research.
Finally, we argue that understanding the bases and drivers of attractiveness
and the strategic intent of the counterpart lead to improved cooperation
and value co-creation a strategic BSR. This argument is not
based on our empirical study, but it gets a strong support from literature:
Hüttinger et al. (2012) propose that customer attractiveness
leads to supplier satisfaction and to granting a preferred customer status,
Mortensen (2012) argue that attraction contributes to relationship
development, and Schiele (2012) proposes that customer attractiveness
is a prerequisite of successful buyer–supplier collaboration. Previous
studies have also shown that the operational success of the relationship
requires that at least one party have high attraction, andmutual attraction
creates awin–win situation inwhich both parties voluntarily cooperate
and co-create value (Aminoff & Tanskanen 2013).
5.1. Practical implications
The practical implications of this study are twofold. First, we reinforce
the notion that companies that seek to influence strategic supply
chain partners and foster value creation should attend to their attractiveness,
abetted by knowledge of the antecedents of buyer and supplier
attractiveness identified here. A company that wants to enhance its attractiveness
in the eyes of a buyer or supplier should learn what the
buyer or supplier finds attractive, and then take the cost–benefit viewpoint,
which according to SET, affects social exchange. At this stage,
the company should consider the full range of ways it might enhance
its attractiveness and focus on the elements with the best cost–benefit
ratio. For example, MobInfra and PharCo managers tended to think of
price and volume as the only means for enhancing their attractiveness
to suppliers. The present study broadened that picture by revealing
other, often cheaper, ways to increase attractiveness. Second,