Quasi-Darwinian Selection in Marketing Relationships

Abstract

This article introduces quasi-Darwinian selection as a new explanatory paradigm for marketing relationships. In this paradigm, established relationships are viewed as survivors of a selection process whose parameters are the conduct of the partners, dependencies between the partners, and external adversities in the markets. Selection has the effect of culling certain combinations of these parameters, such as attempts at unilateral control when the partner is not dependent. The effect of selection is to carve out patterns that appear as associations between parameters, for example, between unilateral control and dependence. Traditionally, such associations have been interpreted as causal effects of one parameter on the other. This study shows that quasi-Darwinian selection may sometimes be the more correct explanation of an observed association. The guiding principle can be summarized by the motto “selection creates association.” As an explanatory paradigm, selection may rival causation. The quasi-Darwinian framework applies to any type of marketing relationships in the business-to-business and business-to-consumer markets. Examples include all relationships in the supply chain, relationships between service providers and customers, and relationships between sales representatives and customers. The article develops the quasi-Darwinian framework in generality, but it emphasizes applications to business-to-business relationships. When associations between relationship parameters are carved out by selection, they can be interpreted as adaptations, and their descriptive meaning has normative implications; if partners in a relationship pattern their conduct according to these associations, on average, they may enhance the longevity of their relationship.