Complementors

From the perspective of a Reference Entity, a complementor (English Complementor ) is a company that offers complementary products or services for their own product or service to own. From the customer's perspective, this means He rated the product of company A higher if he also has the company's product B. Companies A and B are then complementors. A typical example of complementors are manufacturers of sausages and manufacturer of mustard, because most people may prefer a sausage with mustard than without it. Likewise, for most consumers mustard with sausages worth more than pure mustard.

Relationships with complementors

Business relationships with complementors a company differ significantly from the business relations with suppliers or customers. The business of a company and the business of a Komplementors are strongly interdependent because of the benefit function of the complements. In the case of Wintel Komplemenarität (see below) is Microsoft, for example, highly of Intel's investment in a complementary research and development ( and vice versa) dependent (see Yoffie 2007). This meant that Microsoft continuously new generations of Windows and application software (eg Office) designed to take full advantage of higher processing power of the latest Intel chip generation. Here, Intel's market success is relatively more dependent on the introduction of a complementary operating system, because only then the power of the latest generation of chips can be exploited. Microsoft can generate its revenues even without a new generation of chips. This business dependence is illustrated by the following quotation:

"Intel and Microsoft neither buy from nor sell to eachother Directly, But They are undeniably in business together. "

The quote also shows the difference just to supplier relationships: between complementors there is usually no transactions between complementors. This feature must be taken into account in particular the management of the business, which is the subject of Complementor relationship management.

Example of complementors

Intel and Microsoft should probably among the best known complementors in the world. A customer who is in possession of a computer with an Intel chip that has a clear added value if it is to acquire an operating system and other software. In turn, a Microsoft software undergoes a significant appreciation if the customer is in possession of the appropriate hardware to make optimal use of the software.