Contextual antecedents and consequences of relationships between young firms and distinct types of dominant exchange partners

The paper expands our understanding of how exchange partners, particularly customers, can dominate young firms. Using a grounded theory approach, it discovers that young firms operating in different competitive contexts identify three distinct types of dominance: dominance over innovation, dominance over selling and order filling capacity and dominance over total sales. Data analysis suggests that there are different antecedents and consequences of each type of dominance. The paper discusses the implications of the findings and suggests refinements to our current understanding of dominant exchange partners of young firms. (C) 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.