Abstract:

The objectives of this paper are to define the changes which have occurred in the client/agency relationship and the dynamics of these changes. After tracing the path of Industrial Research to Business-to-Business Research, the paper describes: the development of client/agency relations during the last decade and the factors behind this development the effects on client-agency relations: the interlocutors have changed, the clients' requirements have changed (they are more preoccupied with the solution of their problems than with methodology, they are increasingly demanding expertise in their products, they are tougher on costs and deadlines). Specific problems regarding International Business-to-Business research are then dealt with. In conclusion, the authors think that in the future, the relations between clients and agencies will improve providing the working procedures change.