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Paper info: How to Become an Attractive Customer

Title


How to Become an Attractive Customer

Authors


Chris Ellegaard

Place of Publication


The paper was published at the 20th IMP-conference in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2004.

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Abstract


Industrial customers need to influence suppliers. One approach to influencing involves becomingattractive to attract the attention of suppliers. However, customer attractiveness is a complicatedphenomenon, involving sensemaking with supplier actors as a critical issue. This paper is one of thefirst results from a research project on sensemaking and attractiveness. Two industrial suppliers andtheir relations to customers are investigated with the purpose of building knowledge onsensemaking processes in supplier actor groups. The analysis is based on Weick's sensemakingtheory. The findings show that suppliers make sense about different issues, connected toattractiveness. Moreover the two suppliers work under different sensemaking processes, employingdifferent frameworks for interpretation. A sensemaking profile framework is proposed to supportand facilitate the analysis of supplier's sensemaking profiles. By analysing these profiles, theprocess of becoming attractive can be better understood.