Each year, the value of gray market products sold throughout the world runs into the billions of dollars. Past research has stated that exporters of manufactured goods can hardly afford to ignore the possibility of this phenomenon due to the often severe effects on their sales volume, margins, and relationships with distributors and end-users. Through a survey of export managers of manufacturing firms, coupled with a series of qualitative interviews, this study investigates how organizational specific, control specific, and market specific factors drive gray market activity, and in turn explores the effects of unauthorized distribution on export performance. Several factors are shown to evaluate the potential of unauthorized distribution in their export markets, namely the centralization of decision making, the degree to which the product is standardized, channel integration, and channel control. International experience, market volatility, and the number of markets served were found to have no effect on gray market activity, this contrary to traditional thinking. Furthermore, the effects of gray market activity on strategic versus economic performance is shown to be significantly different. Each of these issues is discussed in detail, along with the implications for export managers.

The search for strategic fit has become a core concept in normative models of strategy formation. The issue of strategic fit is becoming increasingly important in global supply chain relationships as managers and academics examine the effectiveness of culturally founded relational governance strategies across multiple supply chain relationships. This study empirically examines the performance implications of strategic fit of relational norm governance strategies in global supply chain relationships between US firms and their primary Japanese and US partners. The performance implications of fitting relational norm governance strategies (i.e., information exchange, flexibility and solidarity) across culturally diverse partners are tested. Results indicate that firm performance is enhanced when the relational norms of information exchange and solidarity are fit to culturally founded norm expectations across culturally diverse relationships simultaneously. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Abstract Research in collaborative interorganizational relationships has typically focused on the value of these relationships to a specific supply chain partner. Furthermore, the phenomenon has rarely been explored in a global setting. Using primary data from 126 cross‐border dyads, we investigate the influence of relational learning on the relationship performance of both the buyer and the supplier, testing the contention that both members (1) benefit from relational learning efforts and (2) enjoy equal pieces of the benefits pie. We find that three specific types of relational learning (information sharing, joint sensemaking, and knowledge integration) influence relationship performance, and that these dimensions of relational learning affect supply chain partners in different ways. We draw conclusions regarding the relative value of relational learning for both buyers and suppliers. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.