This paper will suggest that the growing attention to B2B `relationships' is merely part of a wider growth in the interest in long-term exchanges between economic actors. `Relationships' are said to have distinguishing characteristics - in particular the existence of commitment and trust plus the expectation of continuity. The paper describes Marks and Spencer's links with one of its major suppliers using information about this exchange's history from sources including members of the supplier and the customer firms, legal submissions and also independent observers. It uses this information to make two interpretations of the exchange and as a consequence questions whether or not `a relationship' in the B2B context is a `social construction of reality'.
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