Project marketing and the management of discontinuity

There is too little knowledge about project marketing and discontinuity in the relationship between international project buyers and sellers. Discontinuity in the selling of projects to the same buyer is a strategical problem because of the increased mobility of the buyer (Cova and Salle, 1992). The prevailing concepts in project marketing mainly concern the field of negotiation which is seen as temporary (e.g. Salacuse and Rubin, 1990), or deal with the presumption of continuity in the relationship between project buyer and seller (Hakansson, 1982). This paper aims to study project marketing from a different angle. It focuses on the period after project completion in which project buyer and seller are not concerned with resource exchange or negotiation and the buyer's mobility is high. The question is how to manage the relationship left after a project's completion. The management of this relationship is shown to be interwoven with project marketing. The study presents sleeping relationship which interrelates project buyer and sellers in the period of discontinuity. Furthermore, the function of a sleeping relationship and marketing action are discussed to understand the development of a sleeping relationship. The result is aimed to extend our understanding about project marketing.

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