Governance of International Business Relationships: A Cross-Cultural Study on Alternative Governance Modes

Christian Homburg is Professor of Marketing, Chair of the Marketing Department, and Director of the Institute for Market-Oriented Management at the University of Mannheim, Germany. He is also Professorial Fellow in the Department of Management and Marketing at the University of Melbourne, Australia. He holds a master's degree in business administration and mathematics and a PhD in business administration from the University of Karlsruhe, Germany; a PhD honoris causa from the Copenhagen Business School, Denmark; and a PhD honoris causa from the Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg, Germany. He also holds a habilitation degree from the University of Mainz, Germany. Homburg's research interests include market-oriented management, buyer–seller relationships, and business-to-business marketing. He has published in outlets such as Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Strategic Management Journal, and Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. He is also the founder of Professor Homburg & Partners, an internationally operating management consulting firm.

Joseph P. Cannon is Associate Professor of Marketing at Colorado State University. He was previously at the Goizueta Business School at Emory University and Instituto de Empresa in Madrid, Spain. He received his PhD at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Cannon's research has been published in Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Academy of Management Review, and other academic journals. He is the author of Basic Marketing and Essentials of Marketing. Cannon serves on the editorial review boards of Journal of Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and Journal of Supply Chain Management. Before pursuing an academic career, Cannon worked in technical sales and marketing for Eastman Kodak's Professional Photography Division.

Harley Krohmer completed his dissertation at the Koblenz School of Corporate Management in Germany under the supervision of Christian Homburg after studying business administration in England, France, and Germany. Subsequently, he was Assistant Professor of Marketing at the University of Mannheim in Germany, working with the research team of Christian Homburg. Then, he worked as Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of Cologne, Germany. Since 2004, Krohmer has been Executive Director of the Institute of Marketing and Management and Chairman of the Marketing Department at the University of Bern in Switzerland. He is a member of the board of the Berne Economic Development Agency and is vice president of the board of directors of the Biella Group, one of Europe's leading manufacturers of office products. Krohmer's research interests include pricing, brand management, marketing organization, and international marketing. He has coauthored marketing textbooks and has published in academic marketing journals.

Ingo Kiedaisch is Cofounder and Managing Director of RIX GmbH, a leading contract sales organization that provides sales solutions and takes over tasks in the sales area by providing sales capacities on projects. He holds a master's degree in business administration from the University of Mannheim and a PhD in business administration from the WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management, both in Germany. His research and work focus on the management of buyer–seller relationships and the development and optimization of a company's sales activities. He is particularly interested in the role of buying centers and how they can be addressed to enhance suppliers' sales performance. He has extensive consulting and operational experience in the sale of complex and innovative products and has provided services to private equity companies, start-ups, and both established and underperforming companies.