How is information technology affecting business relationships? Results from a UK survey

Since the interaction approach to the study of business-to-business relationships was developed in the early 1980s [Hakansson H, editor. International marketing and purchasing of industrial goods: an interaction approach. Chichester: Wiley, 1982.], significant changes in the business environment have occurred. The change from manufacturing to services in the more mature economies, globalisation and the rapid evolution of IT and e-commerce are obvious examples. The development of IT and e-commerce on the Internet has been predicted to dramatically affect the way business is conducted, with most surveys pointing to the dominant role that it will play in business to business markets [Key Note. Internet usage in business. London: Key Note Market Reports, 2000.]. In this paper, we examine the impact that information technology is having on business relationships, which lie at the very centre of current thinking in marketing. The results of our initial study shows that the uptake of new technology in business to business companies to be very variable. The usefulness and frequency of use of mobile phones, e-mail, the Internet, intranets, extranets, and audio- and video-conferencing will we believe increase in the future, but perhaps not as quickly as many of the forecasts have predicted. Interestingly, although suppliers are more computer literate than the buyers, the buyers are using the Internet to source suppliers from abroad. © 2002 Elsevier Science Inc.