The Role of Value Change Management in Relationship Dissolution: Hygiene and Motivational Factors

Responding to client needs is a central tenet of marketing, and thought vital to relationship renewal in the business-to-business context. We explore this issue by examining whether supplier response to client requests for value change is sufficient motivation for client firms to renew relationships with advertising agencies. Based on 17 dyadic interviews we find that reacting to client initiated value change is a relationship hygiene factor that does not of itself encourage renewal as it fails to evolve the structure of the relationship over time, and leads to client perceptions of supplier complacency. Although firms must respond to customer requests for value change to avoid dissatisfaction developing in the relationship, they must also actively seek to improve the relationship through driving market actions. We identified these as supplier initiated value change (SIVC), contributing to the emerging literature on value change by identifying a more vital component of managing client relationships to avoid dissolution and enhance the prospects of renewal.

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