Partnering relationship activities: Building theory from case study research

Both qualitative and quantitative techniques are used to gain an understanding of partnering activities in manufacturer-distributor relationships. This article is a meta-analytic summary of data gained from semi-structured interviews conducted by multiple teams of researchers. The process of building theory from case study research is illustrated in the context of business marketing relationships using guidelines developed by Eisenhardt (1989). Based on the results of our analyses, partnering activities are generally geared more toward marketing, planning, and communication between firms. Surprisingly, there were few reported incidences of partnering activities in logistics and information exchange (i.e., electronic access to information between firms).