An Emprical Study of Value-Added-Reseller Relationship Management

The aim of this book is to contribute to the research on relationship management in companies manufacturing high-technology products with regard to their value-added-resellers (VARs). Based on a review of literature covering resource/knowledge- based view, social capital theory and transaction cost economics, an integrated model was developed. This study draws on the existing knowledge from other researchers regarding the important factors in the VAR relationship management, and tries to test the existing knowledge in the defined context and also to discover whether there are new factors and what new factors are. More important it is to find out what the differences are towards the same factor from a supplier's and reseller's perspective. Additionally, the importance of each factor at different stages is also compared and discussed. Eventually the order of importance of the factors is discussed. And finally business implications are given to the sales/channel managers in managing the VAR relationship.