Barnes, B.R. and Carroll, A. (2000), ‘A relationship marketing pilot study of British and French medium-sized medical firms”, Journal of Medical Marketing: Device, Diagnostic and Pharmaceutical Marketing, 1(2): 161-175.

This article presents an interesting cross-cultural comparison using a collection of variables that reveal the extent of relationship-based propensity among UK and French medical firms.  It shows the complexity of relationships at various levels and with various constituencies but ultimately demonstrates that it is possible methodologically to analyse relationships and make choices about how a company can operate in order to achieve a higher strategic purpose through network connections.

Blois, K. (2003), ‘B2B ‘relationships’– a social construction of reality? A study of Marks and Spencer and one of its major suppliers’, Marketing Theory, 3(1): 79-95.

An article that takes an in-depth look at a single B2B buyer–seller relationship, illuminating many of the concepts that we discuss in Chapter 3 (and expanding on references to M&S within the chapter).

Blois, K. and Ryan, A. (2012), ‘Interpreting the nature of business to business exchanges through the use of Fiske’s relational models theory”, Marketing Theory, 12(4): 351-367.

This article features an interesting, and complementary, alternative to the IMP Interaction framework in thinking about B2B relationships.  It sees overall relationships in terms of 4 basic relational types which capture many of the dimensions of the Interaction Approach. It is perhaps less managerially intuitive than the Interaction Approach and does not encompass the Network perspective as readily but is nonetheless worth readers being familiar with.

Bolton, R.N., Smith, A.K. and Wagner, J. (2003), ‘Striking the right balance: designing service to enhance business-to-business relationships”, Journal of Service Research, 5(4:) 271-291.

This article shows empirically how two of the primary areas of interaction (in the IMP Interaction model) between a marketing company and its customers combine to create stronger bonds between them.  The article focuses on trying to get the right balance to perpetuate the relationship.  However, it perhaps limits it focus a little; the environmental context and the power-dependencies in the relationships will inevitably set the scene within which social and operations-based interaction take place.

This article is also relevant to Chapters 8 and 10.

van Doorn, J. (2008), ‘Is there a halo effect in satisfaction formation in business-to-business services?’, Journal of Service Research, 11(2): 124-141.

Though not focusing on dimensions of relationships per se, the findings of this study are interesting in a relationship marketing context.  It shows ultimately that relationship effects have an impact upon the propensity for satisfaction evaluations to carry over; favourable evaluations tend to linger while less favourable ones do not, indicating a greater degree of tolerance towards a service providing company by its customers.