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The complex interplay of religion, reputation and repeated transactions among trade and business communities that dominate the Indian intermediary markets are detailed. Using prior historical sociological and ethnographic accounts, the author highlights some unique aspects of Indian merchant communities and the common elements that these share with other business communities in Asia. The analysis lends credit to the notion that marketing theory can gain substantially from a focus on identity, family and other forms of kinship relations. Strategic implications drawn from the analysis show that while foreign consumer goods firms cannot afford to ignore the large and growing Indian market, their success will depend to a large extent on their understanding of the intricacies of the Indian merchant communities that dominate various marketing channels.

Research on industrial buying decisions has developed along two major themes after the publication of the seminal buyclass framework by Robinsonet al.in 1967. One stream of research seeks to extend or delimit the framework to a variety of buying contexts and product categories, while the other focusses on various emerging forms of buyer‐seller relationships within industrial buying. In an attempt to integrate these two streams calls for detailed attention to the strategic importance of procurement. Elaborates on the conditions which lend a strategic character to any procurement and makes predictions on the appropriate form used for buyer‐seller relationships under various firm‐specific and environmental conditions. Also, shows that such strategic considerations and variations in buyer‐seller relationships for procurement can be characterized within a modified form of the original buyclass framework. In doing so, reconfirms the robustness of the core propositions of the buyclass framework. Draws some implications for the development of procurement relationships for industrial buyers and sellers.

The importance of coordination between independent organizations in a vertical distribution system is stressed in most discussions of marketing channels and inter-organizational relations. The nature and structure of the vertical relation affording effective coordination between autonomous firms or units has been a matter of research interest as well as managerial concern. This thesis attempts to develop and empirically validate a model for understanding the institutional mechanisms for coordination between firms vertically related to each other. An emerging notion in organizational theory and economics is that the firm is a nexus of contracts and economic activities of the firm are governed by contracts ranging from the simple price-quantity contract to more complex adaptive as well as employment contracts. While most or all inter firm relations would be governed by a basic contract, the institutional framework under which any relation would be organized would vary with respect to the use of detailed, sequential contracts; pledges, guarantees and other informal or implicit agreements; and, power, dependency and centralized decision-making. The three institutional mechanisms, contracts, informal agreements, and coalitions differ with respect to their use of bonding mechanisms, power, conflict resolution, and enforcement of obligations. This research attributes the relative predominance of any one institutional mechanism in the vertical relation to relevant industry/market characteristics and firm/transaction considerations within a model unifying theories and concepts from diverse disciplines. Empirical validation of the conceptual model is through a field survey (mail questionnaire) of respondents (mainly top and middle management personnel) drawn from some representative industries. The structural form of the interrelationships between the hypothesized constructs are examined through simultaneous equations modeling and the three-stage least squares estimation procedures. The institutional environment is thus more realistically presented as arising from a combination of environmental and rational selection factors. Moreover, the economic, strategic, relational and transactional properties of inter-organizational relations are considered in one integrated framework. It is hoped that the findings of the study would lead to future theoretical insights that consider the economics, sociology and politics of organizations in a more integrative and realistic framework. ; Ph. D.