Long-term business relationships in international supply chain: The case of peruvian mango exporters and their german customers

Abstract

Despite the fact that many Peruvian mango exporters are trying to take advantage of opportunities offered by the increasing mango international trade, only few firms have managed to supply it permanently. Between 1997 and 2007, 166 firms have participated exporting Peruvian mangoes to the European market, but only 42 have done it continuously. On average, every year 15 firms entered to this market and 10 went out of it. One of the possible reasons why these firms have not continued exporting could be their failure in achieving long-term business relationships with their customers. The purpose of this research is to identify and analyze those critical relational variables that characterize a successful long-term business relationship between Peruvian mango exporters and their German customers. For the empirical research it was used a multiple case study approach, being identified 7 case studies. As a result, it was found that communication, reliance, trust, commitment, cooperation, dependence and satisfaction are the critical relational variables of the successful long-term business relationship. These variables emerge during the establishment, development and maintenance stages of the relationship, influencing the evolution of the transactional process into relational one. Some reasons why Peruvian mango exporters fail in achieving long-term business relationships are: during negotiation phase, they are not clear and honest in what they want and in what they are able to fulfill; they are not well informed about the mango international market; and they have a short-term orientation for doing business. Key words: Relationship marketing, buyer-seller relationships, relational variables, discrete transactions, relational exchange, international supply chain, mangoes, case study