Version 1.0, October 2026. 98 constructs in 18 families across 7 eras, with 18 imported theories below. Selecting a cell reveals its family, era, block, tier, and anchor works, each anchoring reference linking to the publisher’s page. Explore the 18 Family Deep Dives for granular sub-tables, or visit Resources to use the four interactive analytical tools.
Each cell: number, influence pips, block code, then symbol, construct, and anchor works
open frontier position
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Detached series · Theories imported from adjacent fields, each set near the families it feeds
Series
T
Imported Theories
35IP
Ia
Interaction Approach
Family
14. Supply Chain and Networks (V · Interfirm Networks)
Era
Period 3: Competitive Advantage, 1980s
Block
IP · Implementation, process
Tier
Landmark
Cell card
Description
The IMP Group's interaction approach treats industrial marketing and purchasing as a two-sided process of interaction between active buying and selling organizations within long-term relationships, an atmosphere, and an environment.
Managerial Implications
In business markets, buying and selling are long-term interactions between two active organizations, not isolated transactions. Both sides adapt products, processes, and routines to each other over time. Managers should map these adaptations, because they create switching costs and dependence in both directions, and should staff key relationships with stable teams, since the relationship's value lives in people who know each other.
How to read. Down a column follows one research stream through time. Across a row shows what the field studied in an era. Color marks the strategy domain, after Morgan et al. (2019). Pips give an influence tier. Numbers run by era, then family. Placements, anchors, and tiers are editorial judgments, and anchors are entry points rather than a complete record of any stream. Anyone who uses or adapts this table is responsible for verifying its contents against the original works.
