Relationship marketing (RM) is a prolific area of current marketing theory
development. While RM principles are relevant to a range of business-to-consumer
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principally emerged in reference to the private sector. By contrast, this
exploratory study examines RM opportunities between entities operating in
different sectors, namely university and industry in Australia. Using a
qualitative approach, findings led to the development of a conceptual framework
of university-industry relationships, integrating variables of organizational
environment difference, relationship and value. Overall, this exploratory study
broadens RM theory and application to relationships involving parties from
fundamentally different organizational environments and suggest opportunities
for the implementation of RM in this context. The article concludes with
recommendations for academics and practitioners and provides several directions
for future research.
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