Limitations and future research
A limitation of our study is that we use cross-sectional data toexamine the relationships in the study. Since some of the activities and relationships in the study are developed over time, longitudinal data might be able to better capture some of the relationships examined in the study. Future studies can examine the relationships in this study using longitudinal data. Another limitation associated with our use of cross- sectional data is that our results should not be interpreted as proof of causal relationships. To test for causal relationships between the constructs examined in the study, further research should consider testing the framework developed in the study using experimental and quasi-experimental methods. Since the MBA framework has been underutilized in the literature (Ramaswami et al., 2009) future studies should continue to test the efficacy of the framework under multiple conditions. Future research should also be conducted to examine the relationship between a firm’s supplier development activities and its marketing activities. Those studies should not only focus on the positive impact of supplier development activities but should also consider the negative impacts of such activities. For example, this study found a negative relationship between knowledge transfer frequency and marketing process improvements. Future studies should delve deeper into this issue and examine both the positive and negative effects of heavy interaction between suppliers and buyers. Some questions to consider include: do suppliers welcome the knowledge that their buyers provide them or do the suppliers look at supplier development programs as interference from their buyers? Are there conditions under which suppliers welcome supplier development programs and other conditions under which they resent them?