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Author(s)

Mohanbir Sawhney

Jeff Zabin

The Internet is emerging as a powerful connecting force, allowing firms to serve customers, collaborate with partners and suppliers, and empower employees more effectively than ever before. In the network economy, relationships with key stakeholders are becoming valuable assets of the firm, but few firms manage relationships effectively. A study proposes that firms need to take a more holistic approach to understanding where their relational equity resides and how it should be managed and measured. It also proposes that relational equity is not limited to relationships with customers but also includes relationships with partners, suppliers, and employees. Effective management of relational equity requires firms to think in an integrative manner along several dimensions: strategy, process, technology, organization design, and metrics. The study develops conceptual frameworks for each of these dimensions. Taken together, these frameworks offer a conceptual foundation for research and managerial practice on managing relational equity.
Date Published: 2002
Citations: Sawhney, Mohanbir, Jeff Zabin. 2002. Managing and Measuring Relational Equity in the Network Economy. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. (4)313-332.