BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS MARKETS, INTERACTIONS AND COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE: AN ANALYSIS IN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE RESOURCE-BASED THEORY

Without efficient buyer-seller interactions no firm can exist. Despite this simple assumption, Business-to-Business (B2B) interactions represent an under-investigated field of research. This thesis discusses the original concept of the ‘Intermediate market Trade Contact’ (ITC) as a transactional capital resource, measured by B2B interactions on the basis of firms’ purchases or sales. The main aim of the thesis is to evaluate the relations that exist between the number of ITCs and the proxies of both firms’ surviving and competitive advantage in the twenty-seven European Union countries B2B market. In the Resource-Based Theory (RBT) framework, only ‘valuable’ (above normal) and ‘rare’ (concentrated) productive resources become relevant for these purposes. Through the adoption of Eurostat’s highly reliable and large databases, European Union (EU) Input–Output tables, and the ‘supply-driven’ model, direct and strong relations between the valuable and rare ITCs and proxies of competitive advantage and have been identified. The main theoretical implications are twofold. Firstly, two of the main assumptions that constitute the RBT framework have been positively tested on a continental scale. Secondly, it has become possible to identify valuable B2B interactions, and quantifying their economic impact on intermediate sales. From a managerial point of view, firms can optimize processes for their actual and future business client evaluations, may increase the efficiency of resource allocation decisions, and are able to increase the rationality of initiatives regarding their customer portfolio management.