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SUMMARY This research examines organizational purchasing models focusing on the use of total cost of ownership (TCO) to value purchase opportunities. The research presents evidence that leading‐edge companies actually use such models. This exploratory study provides, for the first time, data on the nature, and use, of the cost drivers on which organizations base their TCO computations. The study suggests a generic model of total cost of ownership is not appropriate. However, the findings of this research suggest a TCO model based on a core set of cost drivers, along with an auxiliary set of cost drivers, is appropriate. The core cost drivers would be present in all, or most, TCO computations. Purchasing managers could use different, specific cost drivers from the auxiliary set to tailor the TCO computation for a particular purchase situation. The authors also suggest that a value‐based, multi‐firm, or supply chain, TCO computation model is needed. Such a TCO model should be similar to a single‐firm TCO model.

Since 1978 business marketing has seen a great deal of research activity. It is reasonable to ask whether this has led to advances in theory development and a general increase in our level of knowledge of business marketing. This article reviews the business marketing literature from 1978-1997 from twenty-three journals, five sets of proceedings, and selected books of articles in an attempt to answer that question. Over two thousand articles were examined to assess the current state of the field and suggest directions for future development. As the sheer number of articles since 1978 would suggest, the field of business marketing has attracted a considerable amount of attention. Close examination of the past twenty years of research, however, clearly indicates that certain areas have received a disproportionate share of the research effort. Organizational buyer behavior, strategy and planning, and sales management accounted for over forty percent of the articles published. Important areas such as computers and technology in business markets, marketing to the government, ethics in business markets, and pricing, in contrast, have received relatively little research attention. Regardless of the uneven coverage, the research in business marketing over the past twenty years has been conceptually and empirically strong. Changes in the way business is done has also resulted in a recent surge in theory development in the area of buyer-seller relationships within the context Source n % Year

PurposeThe significant increase in service offerings throughout the world has caused marketing scholars to focus their attention on the characteristics of the service encounter. With the growth in global business, more attention is also being paid to cross‐culture service encounters. This study proposes adding to that trend by attempting to measure the effect of intercultural sensitivity on the cross‐cultural performance of service employees.Design/methodology/approachQuestionnaires were carried out in four‐ and five‐diamond hotels located in the state of Florida with reputations for attracting foreign guests.FindingsThe results indicate that employees with high intercultural sensitivity scored significantly (p<0.05) higher than employees with low intercultural sensitivity in terms of service attentiveness, revenue contribution, interpersonal skills, job satisfaction, and social satisfaction as they relate to cross‐cultural encounters. There was no significant difference in scores for motivation‐to‐work and perceptions of primary rewards (compensation, recognition, etc.).Research limitations/implicationsThe study was limited to upscale in Florida hotels.Originality/valueResults suggest that service firms would benefit from testing for and providing training in intercultural sensitivity for employees involved in cross‐cultural service encounters.

Partnerships between industrial buyers and industrial sellers are becoming more common in the United States. However, evidence suggests that many of these relationships do not reach their full potential because of actions taken or not taken by the partners. While some partnerships are doomed to failure from the beginning, many fail because the partners do not have a process established to maintain the relationship. This article offers a model for developing and maintaining buyer‐supplier partnerships. The development portion of the model consists of four stages: (1) buyer's expectations, (2) seller's perceptions, (3) mutual understanding and commitment, and (4) performance activity. However, certain problems in the performance activity stage can place the relationship in jeopardy and move the partnership to another stage: (5) corrective action. The model continues by illustrating three approaches to mitigate these performance problems and bring stability back to the relationship: (1) operational unilateral adjustment, (2) operational bilateral adjustment, and (3) managerial bilateral adjustment. The key to a stable, mutually beneficial buyer‐supplier partnership over time is understanding how problems may enter a relationship and how they can best be eliminated.