Relationship Dynamics: Developing Business Relationships and Creating Value

In 1997, a world-leading tooling supplier lost a large customer. Virtually overnight, and without consultation, the customer announced that it would be moving all of its tooling supplies to an integrator. This would distance the supplier from the customer, and indirectly decrease volumes and margins. This dramatic event prompted the supplier to come up with a new strategy to bind customers closer to them, a strategy that came to change the way that they did business and which was highly successful.