Arthur T House
Maine Woods Biomass Exports, LLC, USA
Title: Expanding wood chip exports via long-term international relationships: Trust and commitment relationships - developing enduring transactions
Biography
Biography: Arthur T House
Abstract
This presentation focuses on factors motivating the trend toward the enhanced duration of a buyer-seller relationship which will lead to long-term contractual relationships in an eff ort to contribute to a better understanding of the driving forces of trust and commitment. It will also focus on their impact on the importing fi rms’ performance in an exponentially expanding market context. Traditional sales of wood chips exported from mostly North American suppliers who are concluded as discrete transactions or spot market transactions. In the business world and in academia, the reference to a discreet transaction is one that relationships can be built upon, however, it is in its pure form, one that transpires having had no history between the parties, and nothing ever has been nor ever will be. Th is is akin to there being money on one side of the ocean and the commodity (Wood Chips) on the other and the one discrete transaction in the off ering (spot sale) and no more expectation to
follow. At the core of trust and commitment, marketing is the exchange that is profi table to parties involved in the exchange. Th e concept of exchanges as it applies to trust and commitment marketing is viewed from either a transaction cost analysis approach or a social exchange theory approach. Th e ultimate goal in developing the enduring relationship is to foster and maintain a competitive advantage over rival fi rms in the industry.