Inertia in business relationships: the case of a designer furniture manufacturer

This article discusses how inertia manifests itself in business relationships. It examines how path dependencies shape the development of a firm's resources and accumulate inertia within them, which can affect how the firm relates to other actors in its network. The article draws on different theoretical perspectives that have dealt with the notion of inertia and provides a holistic understanding of this concept, its antecedents and forms of expression. The study uses a longitudinal single-case study of a company where a dominant business relationship has accumulated inertia and affected the firm's engagement in other relationships and development efforts as an empirical illustration. The analysis examines how change forces challenge the existing paths and reveal both positive and negative inertia effects. The article provides a discussion of the different types of inertia and its expressions on different levels and functions.