دانلود رایگان ترجمه مقاله وضعیت فعلی و مفهوم آینده قدرت در بازارهای صنعتی (نشریه الزویر 2015)

وضعیت فعلی و مفهوم آینده قدرت در بازارهای صنعتی

The current situation and future conceptualization of power in industrial markets

Abstract

This article offers overview of research on power in industrial and business markets, conducted through the 10 articles in the special issue. These contributions are catalysts for defining the history, context, current situations, and future developments and prospects for power in the business world. Therefore, this article presents a conceptualization and understanding of power, using the special issue as a lens through which to view past antecedents, present understanding, and future directions. In addition to studies that mine past and present academic and practical rationales for power, the empirically based contributions test and explore power. This article identifies and thematically draws out and labels the principal manifestations across these contributions, to link origins with current principal foci and identify the most likely emphases of theory and practice for the future business-to-business arena.

1 Introduction

As a concept relevant to the theory and practice of business, power has great importance and thus has attracted substantial attention from business academics, though with somewhat patchy coverage. Considerable early research came from industrial marketers who focused on reapplications of theory derived from interpersonal human relations (e.g., Emerson, 1962; French & Raven, 1959; Thibaut & Kelley, 1959), such that they defined power according to human interactions and applied it to business exchanges. For example, researchers interested in industrial markets and the influence of power in interfirm exchanges, who adopted the views of the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing Group (IMP), modelled power with an interactionist framework; featuring dyadic, and then network interactions. Industrial Marketing Management (IMM) was then and remains at the forefront of defining, interpreting, and developing knowledge about power in business contexts and has constituted the forum for advanced thought on the subject.

In 2005, IMM had an instrumental role in setting the research agenda: In Volume 34, Issue 8, it departed from traditional approaches and published a contribution that challenged the generally accepted preconceptions of a negative view of power. That is, asymmetry had been regarded as unacceptable, unworkable, or just plain wrong, according to an idealistic objection to coercive power plays. However, Hingley (2005a) shone a new light on power, revealing it to be not some toxic alien force but rather a constant presence, for which asymmetry was acceptable and workable. Hingley also called for a better understanding of power and the motives of the participants in ongoing, relationally fluid, interfirm exchanges. In what became a mini-debate within the issue, Kumar (2005), Naudé (2005), and Blois (2005) commented on the contribution, and then Hingley (2005b) responded. Yet even this influential volume of IMM did not contain sufficient consideration of power in business. Ten years later, IMM is the appropriate place to revisit power with a fuller treatment.

With this concluding article, we seek to bring the field up to date by providing an overview of current thinking about power, in the context of industrial and business markets, as indicated by the important themes emerging from this special issue. The following 10 articles, with their varying approaches and emphases, draw out several themes that underpin and challenge the conditions and applications of power in business, customer, and market relationships. They collectively address the history and origins of power, its current thematic emphases, and its potential new directions and treatments. We identify the following themes:

1- The analyses of the antecedents of power often hark back to its longstanding, fragmented treatment in both academia and practice. Thus, the first theme to emerge is the pursuit of an understanding of the origins, definitions, interplay, and applications of power in an interpersonal context, and its application to business relations.

2- Authors seek to pin down and define key concepts surrounding power, such as trust and the nature of asymmetry.

3- From the start, industrial marketers have sought to model and measure power in interfirm relations. The third theme thus pertains to the accuracy and appropriateness of measuring power.

4- Most investigations, analyses, and interpretations of power have focused on interfirm exchanges. But, why is our focus drawn to (often dyadic) interfirm exchanges?

5- The study of power often hones in on particular business contexts and circumstances. The final theme involves why certain business sectors and contexts (e.g., retailing and food supply) constitute such rich material for researchers seeking to understand power in the business world.

After delineating this theme-based analysis, we suggest some avenues for research that considers power in relation to business, customer, and market relationships. Finally, we bring this issue to a close with some concluding remarks.