ABSTRACT Purpose Literature analyzes interorganizational relationships mostly from a relational perspective by emphasizing partnerships’ positive aspects. Yet business reality is often less romantic and more opportunistic. Especially within the automotive industry opportunistic behaviors often cause extreme reactions in both partners, resulting in poisoned relationships. This study examines the effects of bilateral opportunism between buyers and suppliers on both partners’ relationship induced financial performance, using an automotive industrial setting of new product development (NPD) partnerships. Furthermore, we evaluate the “opportunistic fit” between both partners to assess whether partnerships are characterized by opportunistic parity or unilateral domination. Methodology The empirical analyses are based on primary data from 147 NPD partnerships between tier-1 suppliers and automotive manufacturers (OEMs), exclusively drawn from the suppliers’ perspective. Data were statistically analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) with SPSS AMOS. Findings Our findings suggest that large parts of NPD partnerships between suppliers and OEMs are opportunistically lopsided, meaning that they are unilaterally dominated. With reciprocity, firms are able to counterbalance the influence of partnership opportunism and its effects on financial performance by themselves. Financial benefits achieved by opportunistically striving after economic self-interest are eliminated, in case the deprived partner attempts to opportunistically adjust its inequitable position. Our results show that opportunistic firms can benefit from immediate improvements in individual financial performance, but only until the disadvantaged partner has a counter opportunistic reaction. When the opportunism of both partners is at parity, firms cannot generate any individual increases in financial performance by acting opportunistically, highlighting the significance of bilateral opportunism for B2B business scholars. Originality This paper enhances the understanding of business relationships in industries with strong power imbalance between the buyer and the supplier firm. The authors introduce the idea of “bilateral opportunism” and “opportunistic parity” to the B2B marketing literature. These concepts shed light on the reality of business relationships, in particular in industries with high power imbalance, such as the automotive industry. Descriptive information highlights the relevance of the opportunistic parity concept.

中文翻译：

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买卖双方合作中的双边机会主义

摘要目的文献主要通过从关系的角度强调伙伴关系的积极方面来分析组织间的关系。然而，商业现实通常不那么浪漫，而是更多的机会主义。特别是在汽车行业，机会主义行为经常在双方中引起极端反应，从而导致关系中毒。本研究使用汽车工业环境中的新产品开发（NPD）伙伴关系，研究了买卖双方之间的双边机会主义对双方合作伙伴关系引起的财务绩效的影响。此外，我们评估了两个合伙人之间的“机会契合度”，以评估合伙人是否具有机会均等或单边统治的特征。方法论实证分析基于一级供应商和汽车制造商（OEM）之间147个NPD合作伙伴关系的主要数据，这些数据完全是从供应商的角度得出的。使用带有SPSS AMOS的结构方程模型（SEM）对数据进行统计分析。调查结果我们的调查结果表明，供应商和OEM之间的NPD合作伙伴关系的大部分处于机会偏差状态，这意味着它们是单方面主导的。有了对等关系，企业就可以自己抵消合伙机会主义的影响及其对财务绩效的影响。在被剥夺的合伙人试图机会主义地调整其不平等地位的情况下，消除了在经济自利之后机会主义的努力所获得的财务利益。我们的结果表明，机会主义的公司可以从个人财务绩效的即时改善中受益，但前提是处于不利地位的合伙人有相反的机会主义反应。当双方的机会主义势均力敌时，企业无法通过采取机会主义的行为来实现财务绩效的个人增长，这凸显了双边机会主义对B2B商业学者的重要性。独创性本文增强了对买方和供应商之间权力不平衡的行业业务关系的理解。作者将“双边机会主义”和“机会均等”的概念介绍给B2B营销文献。这些概念揭示了业务关系的现实，尤其是在电力不平衡严重的行业中，例如汽车业。描述性信息突出了机会均等概念的相关性。