Paper info

Towards an Understanding of the Fading Process of Inter-organisational Relationships - A Longitudinal Case Study in the Context of Cultural Sponsorship

Olkkonen Rami and Tuominen Pekka

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

The study tackles the fading process of business relationships in the context of culturalsponsorships. The purpose of the study is to develop a general theoretical framework forunderstanding the fading process of inter-organisational relationships. The primary objectiveof this theoretical study is the development of a general conceptual model of relationshipfading in various empirical settings. The study first presents a brief review of the concept ofcritical events and incidents in the relevant literature. Second, the study presents varioustriggers of fading that have been suggested in the discourse of relationship fading and ending.Third, a theoretical framework for understanding the dynamics of fading in interorganisationalrelationships is developed. Finally, the paper outlines an empirical case study toanalyse the dynamics of fading in the context of a cultural-sponsorship relationship. Theproposed theoretical framework is narrow enough to guide empirical research, but broadenough to be open to new ideas and reformulations that may emerge from the empiricalmaterial.