The impact of interconnectedness in a triadic relationship between a financial services provider, IFAs, and customers

With total assets of £3,010 billion (ONS, 2012), the UK long-term savings and investment industry is one of the most important economic pillars in the UK. The uniqueness of this industry is that 80 per cent of its sales are generated through Independent Financial Advisers (IFAs). In addition, it is expected that the recent implementation of the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) on 1st January 2013 will increase the complexity of the industry. The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of interconnectedness in a triadic relationship between a long-term savings and investments provider, IFAs, and customers. Ritter’s (2000) framework of the effect of interconnectedness was employed to analyse this triadic relationship. It was found that synergy effect, lack effect, competition effect, and by-pass effect occurred in this triadic relationship. Conceptual studies of triadic business relationships, especially in the context of IFAs, are scarce in marketing and organisational research. Therefore, this study will be a beneficial contribution to the B2B marketing and financial services marketing field. A case study research method with multiple sources of evidence and a retroductive research approach was employed in this study.