A framework for studying relationship marketing dyads

Although coined more than 15 years ago, relationship marketing remains an ambiguous concept with plenty of rhetoric but few publications on empirical evidence in support of a relationship marketing paradigm shift. A research project is currently studying marketing dyads in the international food supply chain in an attempt to better understand what constitutes relationship marketing. Four issues are dealt with in this article. First, the concept of relationship marketing, the problem area and the research questions are shortly introduced to the reader. Second, the contextual setting for the research project is described in some detail. Third, the research methodology is discussed in great depth with special emphasis on how to develop theory from qualitative case research data. Fourth, a typical example of the research process and its findings are outlined briefly.