Senior Lecturer in Management at the School of Business, Dr Tatiana Andreeva, has had an article published in the latest issue of the Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing.
The article, entitled ‘A cross-cultural perspective on relational exchange’, appears in Volume 32(7) of the journal and was co-authored by Minna Jukka (Lappeenranta University of Technology), Tatiana, Kirsimarja Blomqvist (Lappeenranta University of Technology), and Kaisu Puumalainen (Lappeenranta University of Technology).
Building efficient relationships with business partners is vital for the success in the business-to-business (B2B) sector; yet it is quite challenging when partners come from different cultures, as they may have different expectations of what such a relationship is. With the help of the repertory grid method, this study examines perceptions of the relational norms among Russian and Finnish managers: what they consider to be the most important aspects in a relational exchange and what are the relational differences between well- and poorly functioning business relationships.
The study found that a number of relational norms were equally important to both Russian and Finnish managers, despite their cultural dissimilarities. These norms included flexibility, information exchange, long-term orientation, mutuality, and solidarity. At the same time, the importance of a business partner’s ability was seen differently, being perceived as much more important by Russian managers than by their Finnish counterparts. Finally, the study found that sharing the same cultural background may have an adverse effect when evaluating poorly functioning business relations.