Relational based research on solution

A close examination of the solution literature indicates that scholars within the relational based research stream seek to outline the importance of relationship from two different points of view. Within the relational based research stream, two different types of relationships are identified as internal relationships and external relationships. The first group of researchers focuses on external relationships, especially with customers to facilitate cooperation between business customers and solution provider (e.g., Storbacka et al. 2013; Aarikka-Stenroos and Jaakkola 2012; Storbacka 2011). The relational research stream, with its focus on relationships with customers, adopts the view that customer cooperation is critical throughout the solution provision process to provide a superior solution. It also identifies the customer as the co-creator or co- producer of solution (e.g., Storbacka et al. 2013; Aarikka-Stenroos and Jaakkola 2012; Storbacka 2011; Kapletia and Probert 2010; Pawar et al. 2009; Brax and Jonsson 2009: Tuli et al. 2007; Davis et al. 2007; Miller et al. 2002). These researchers contend that through cooperation, the customer and the solution provider integrate their resources to develop and provide the solution (Aarikka-Stenroos and Jaakkola 2012). In this sense, the aim of resource integration is to provide a superior solution that is customised to a specific customer to solve their business problem most effectively (Aarikka-Stenroos and Jaakkola 2012; Nordin and Kowalkowski 2010; Davies et al. 2007; Helander and Möller 2007).

However, another group of researchers focuses on the importance of the internal relationship and argue that solution providers should enhance the internal relationship to develop superior solutions (Galbraith 2002; Windahl and Lakemond 2006). Galbraith (2002) and Windahl and Lakemond (2006) show that both internal relationships (e.g., between different business units or employees) and external relationship (e.g., relationship with customers) are critical to offer superior solutions to customers. In a conceptual paper, Galbraith (2002) takes the view of developing internal relationships to enhance external relationships with customers. Galbraith (2002) proposes that solution

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providers should be customer focused; therefore they need to have special organisational structure and processes. Galbraith introduces the star model constituting strategy, structure, process, rewards, and people as key elements to have a customer focused organisational structure. He believes that a solution provider should be customer focused to offer a solution that solves business customer’s problem. Galbraith (2002), specifically, focuses on the role of motivational leadership style to improve internal cohesiveness and decrease the internal conflicts between different units across the solution provider through solution provision process. However, Windahl and Lakemond (2006) have a different approach compared to Galbraith (2002). Windahl and Lakemond (2006) using case studies illustrate challenges and possible success factors for the development of solutions in the capital goods industry. They argue that solution providers need to improve the innovativeness of the solution to offer superior solutions to customers. Therefore, solution providers need to pay extra attention to internal relationships and exchanging ideas to be capable to offer an innovative solution. They contend that providing innovative solutions requires the combination and application of capabilities and in this area the inter-firm relationship should be paramount. Further, the inter-firm relationship is more critical to utilise information obtained from external sources and employ combinations of different capabilities across the solution provider to provide innovative solutions to customers.

While Galbraith (2002) and Windahl and Lakemond (2006) try to illustrate the importance of internal relationships for offering superior solutions, others focus on developing external relationships with customers to offer superior customised solutions that address business customers need. In this area, researchers tried to understand different types of relationship between customers and the solution provider (Töllner et al. 2011; Tuli et al. 2007), as well as the different roles that the customer and the solution provider perform in the solution provision process (Aarikka-Stenroos and Jaakkola 2012; Helander and Möller 2007). Tuli et al (2007) interview 49 managers in the business customer firms and 55 managers in the solution provider firms across different service sectors (e.g., health care, real estate). Tuli et al. (2007) identify four layers of relationships between the customer and the solution provider as: 1) requirements definition, 2) customisation and integration, 3) deployment, and 4) post-deployment support. They specifically point to the importance of the post purchase support relationship, and report most customers believe solution providers do not pay enough attention to post-deployment support. Tuli et al. (2007) contend that the relationship between the solution provider and the customer is a long lasting and may last after purchase, because customers may need after sales services (e.g., maintenance, training).

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Consistent with Tuli et al. (2007), Töllner et al. (2011) conducted 17 in-depth interviews with different individuals in nine business customer firms, in capital goods industry to understand what criteria customers consider to select a solution provider. The work of Töllner et al. (2011) confirms the work of Tuli et al. (2007) by showing that the four types of relationships (e.g., requirements definition, customisation and integration, deployment, and post-deployment support) between the solution provider and customers exist. However, they extend the work of Tuli et al. (2007) by introducing the importance of signalling activities that focuses on the level of commitment and integrity of the solution provider and inter-process management. Töllner et al. (2011) argue that the inter-process management can be applied to provide a superior solution for customers and is about time management, coordination, incorporation, and proactive support. The findings of Töllner et al. (2011) on inter-process management are distinguished, as they illustrate the importance of the internal relationship from the customer perspective, which is consistent with the view of Galbraith (2002) and Windahl and Lakemond (2006). In particular, their findings show that internal coordination, which is the result of internal relationship, is one of the most important criteria that affect the customers’ purchase decision.

Importantly, while Töllner et al. (2011) and Tuli et al. (2007) explore different types of relationships between the business customer and the solution provider through the solution provision process, Aarikka-Stenroos and Jaakkola (2012) focus on identifying the customer role through the solution provision process. Aarikka-Stenroos and Jaakkola (2012) drawing from interviews of 120 professional service firms and customers and propose that the solution provider and the customer solve problems in a dyadic relationship. Aarikka-Stenroos and Jaakkola (2012) identify seven different roles for customers, focusing on the customer as the co-diagnoser, co-designer, co-producer, co-developer, co-implementer, and co-marketer. Importantly, Aarikka-Stenroos and Jaakkola (2012) extend the role of customers as the user of exchanged resources to the co-creator of the solution. The findings of Aarikka-Stenroos and Jaakkola (2012) are consistent with the contention raised by Helander and Möller (2007) who introduce customers as the co-creator of solutions.

The literature review in this section identifies specific points, such as the importance of internal relationship to provide superior solutions as well as establishing the successful relationship with customers. The review here shows that effective internal relationships and coordination is one of the most important factors that affect customer purchase decision making. It seems the result of internal coordination on customer purchase decision making is due to the development of quality service solutions, quality of relationship with customers, and meeting timelines promised to customers. Further,

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effective internal relationships affect the superiority of a solution by exchanging ideas and developing innovative solutions (Galbraith 2002; Windahl and Lakemond 2006). Moreover, the literature review identifies that the customer role in the solution provision process is more than being just the recipient of the solution. The customer role is extended from designing the solution to co-marketing of the solution, which emphasises high interdependency between the customer and the solution provider in providing superior solutions. While the studies discussed in Section 3.4.1 focus on the importance of relationships to provide superior solutions, other groups of researchers try to understand what internal processes facilitates the relationship between the customer and the solution provider. Thus, Section 3.4.2 reviews the literature to understand what resources and processes are required to develop effective relationships between the customer and the solution provider.