Power in Business Relationships

Conclusions and implications

Conclusions

In this book, we have explored and provided clearer insights into the complexity of the key concept of power in business relationships, with an emphasis on the buyer-supplier type of relationship. In understanding power notion in inter-organisational settings, we build on classic definitions (Emerson, 1962; Dahl, 1957) that focus on social exchange and inter-individual relationships within groups and organisations. In the context of business relationships, we understand power in a manner similar to Cowan et al. (2015) as the potential of one actor to influence the behaviour of another actor when the former’s expectations are inconsistent with the desires of the latter and the latter actor shows resistance. ...