Power and perceptions in business development: The case of a major contractor and design consultancies in civil engineering influencer and referral markets

Relationship marketing has become more prevalent in construction over recent years through both strategic intent and informal tactics. This research is part of a two-year programme examining the application of relationship marketing and management within a major contractor. The paper reports the findings on the relationships between the contractor and design consultancies. The findings are analysed according to four dimensions of power. The first dimension is the overall market power of contractors compared with consultants, especially where contractors have financial leverage and where consultants are subcontractors. The second dimension is power derived from the status accorded to professions and their disciples compared with contractors. The third dimension concerns the specific power consultants and contractors apply in transactions during project stages. The fourth dimension is the lack of awareness and power business development managers have in leveraging relationship value in relation to consultants and internally through systems to link with project management. These four dimensions are also analysed in terms of the perceptions key personnel hold that constrain relationship building between contractors and consultants. The findings arise from a combination of action research in the contractor organization and observation conducted through semi-structured interviews with the ten leading design consultancies in the contractor’s market and with their business development managers. The paper concludes with an evaluation of the findings in terms of relationship marketing theory, particularly drawing upon influencer and referral markets within the IMP six markets model, to assess constraints experienced in developing relationship marketing derived from perceptions and power.