Ethical and Moral Dilemmas Associated with Strategic Relationships between Business-to-Business Buyers and Sellers

Nigel Piercy () and Nikala Lane

Journal of Business Ethics, 2007, vol. 72, issue 1, 87-102

Abstract: While ethical and moral issues have been widely considered in the general areas of marketing and sales, similar attention has not been given to the impact of strategic account management (SAM) approaches to handling the relationships between suppliers and veryâ\x90£large customers. SAM approaches have been widelyâ\x90£adopted by suppliers as a mechanism for managingâ\x90£relationships and partnerships with dominant customersâ\x90£â€“ characterized by high levels of buyer–seller inter-dependence and forms of collaborative partnership. Observation suggests that the perceived moral intensity ofâ\x90£these relationships is commonly low, notwithstanding the underlying principles of benefiting the few (large, strategic customers) at the expense of the many (smaller customers and other stakeholders), and the magnitude of the consequences of concessions made to large customers, even though some such consequences may be unintended. Dilemmas exist also for executives implementing strategic account relationships regarding such issues as information sharing, trust, and hidden incentives for unethical behaviour. We propose the need for greater transparency and senior management questioning of the ethical and moral issues implicit in strategic account management. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 2007

Keywords: buyer–seller relationships; ethical dilemmas; governance; interorganizational relationships; marketing; moral dilemmas; selling; strategic account management; unintended consequences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10551-006-9158-6

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