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Relationship Quality in Business Relationships: An International Perspective

It is with great pleasure that I can introduce to the readers of Total Quality Management & Business Excellence this Special Issue on ‘Relationship Quality in Business Relationships: An International Perspective’. In piecing together the issue, my initial objective was to compile a series of manuscripts that would provide sufficient variety in terms of different research approaches adopted. In achieving this, the Special Issue will not only add value in terms of its contribution to knowledge in the discipline, but can also act as a useful framework of reference to assist young and aspiring academics by presenting clear examples of different techniques used in business and management research. A number of articles are therefore introduced ranging from conceptual papers and reviews, to qualitative approaches including case study investigations, to more quantitative based investigations. My second objective, and a further feature of this issue relates to its international focus. Contributions have been taken from authors that are scattered globally, and research from Europe, Scandinavia, the Middle East, Far East, Africa, North America and Australasia is included. It is believed that the international context adds a further dimension, and is useful for providing further fresh insights on the subject from different countries of the World. The issue begins with a comparison relating to four different scopes of quality in a business-to-business context by Holmlund of the Hanken Swedish School of Economics & Business Administration in Finland. It is an ideal introductory paper, as a useful conceptual model and a thorough review of the pertinent literature are offered on the subject. The subsequent four articles build further on the international dimension. Naudé, Ashnai, Chaharsoogbj & Perzon report the findings of an empirical study to help further understand some of the characteristics of relationship quality in the Middle East. Their investigation, based on a sample of Iranian managers, provides some interesting insights when compared with a similar study that was earlier undertaken with managers in the UK. Wong, Leung, Hung and Ngai from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University then provide a somewhat detailed account of business relationships in a Chinese context and introduce various concepts to nurture and improve the quality of relationships – ‘guanxi’. The following paper by Yen, Yu & Barnes attempts to piece together some of Total Quality Management Vol. 18, No. 8, 845–846, October 2007