The dissolution of channels and hierarchies : An inquiry into the changing customer relationships and organization of the computer corporations

Abstract: The study develops an analysis of the evolution that has occurred in the last decade incustomer relationships of the large computer manufacturing corporations and of the impactthat the changes in these relationships have had on the marketing management activity andorganization of these companies. The aim of our study is twofold - one empirical the othermore theoretical. At the empirical level, it wants to capture some important changes occurringin the computer industry and in the computer corporations. We think that the computerindustry provides optimal empirical ground as the industry is a very dynamic and innovativeone, useful to understand the dynamics in many other industries and companies, both hightech and non high tech. At the theoretical level, the study has the aim to explore and to someextent explain the forces driving the changes observed. The analysis primary refers to issuesthat appears as critical in the network perspective to market and marketing management. Wehave used the "case study" methodology and we have developed a long term analysis ofmicro-processes of customer relationships and organizational evolution in three companies:IBM, Digital Equipment Spa and Olivetti.The main results of the analysis are that, when approaching manufacturer-customerrelationships, it is necessary to review the traditional conception of value chain tending tovisualize linear, unidirectional, sequential interactions where physical activities flow andvalue are added from "upstream" to "downstream" actors. Rather than transmitted, value iscreated through actors' interaction in these market relationships that appear simultaneous,multidirectional, co-productive, synchronous and reciprocal. We suggest a business networkperspective of manufacturer-customer relationships and in general of market relationships anddraw management and organizational implications for the individual company.