1 VII International PENSA Conference November, 26-28 th , 2009 - Sao Paulo, Brazil MARKETING STRATEGIC RELATIONSHIP ALIGNMENT IN AGRIBUSINESS CHANNELS Tiago Fischer Ferreira Eduardo Eugenio Spers Christiano França da Cunha Abstract This article addresses customer relationships in the agribusiness sector, focusing on specialized channels for marketing agricultural pesticides. It aims to verify the degree of alignment in strategies and service policies towards end clients that have been developed by distribution channels. It also examines the understanding that multinational partners in these distribution channels have of best service for end clients. Using conceptual models of alignment and relationship marketing, it proposes an analysis model based on four variables: identification, differentiation, interaction and personalization. The empirical study asks whether firms that are more aligned in terms of customer relationship concepts have larger, more organized structures and looks at whether this alignment influences the firm’s performance. The results allow the report to examine channels with varied alignments, in different stages and intensities of strategy development and with differing customer relationships. In addition, a low alignment was found between the model desired by industry and the perceptions of the managers interviewed. Opportunities for using this proposed methodology of analysis for strategies Relationship Marketing in agribusiness channels could be pursued in future studies in association with the annual marketing strategies of multinational manufacturers. KEYWORDS: strategic alignment, relationship marketing, marketing channels. 1 Introduction Agribusiness professionalization is a topic that deserves administration research because of the relative importance of this sector in Brazil’s economy. According to Neves (2005), since 2002 Brazil has become the leader in several productive sectors of agribusiness, and has demonstrated increasing competence. Nevertheless, even with the advance in technology and techniques applied to agricultural productions, the national agribusiness and its various segments are still vulnerable when faced with entrepreneurial-related issues. The increasing professionalization in the country’s agriculture and its capacity to generate not just wealth, but also social and economic development is a recurring topic, both in the academic world and the wider public arena. As are the moments of crisis caused by external - and often uncontrollable - factors. Consequently proposals aimed at the organizational development of agribusiness firms arrive frequently. Seeking ways to implement the theories these proposals generate has become a constant concern for firm managers. One example of entrepreneurial practice increasingly present in the strategic management practiced by agricultural firms is the emphasis on the customer’s relationship with the firm, its products and its services (Day, 1999). The customer is becoming the focus of performance strategies of these firms and people and resources are being mobilized to supply their needs and expectations.