The study of the dynamics of business relationships has given rise to two different streams of research. On the one hand the majority of researchers have been interested in their positive phase of formation and development, while on the other hand a minority has tried to apprehend their negative phase of degradation and dissolution. In that field of research, studies have tried to capture the phenomena related to the deterioration and termination of relationships by analysing the main reasons behind their dissolution, the disengagement strategies or the various stages of the dissolution process.

Although such work has brought new insights to the understanding of relationships, its main purpose was not to explain how the deterioration could be countered. In fact, few researches have been devoted to the study of the process by which a termination can be avoided once the relationship has entered its dissolving stage. This is why it seems necessary to study the process and the actions that are needed to rescue a relationship. We must look into the possibility of detecting troubled relationships and wonder what strategies can be used to stop the ending process.

Studying the restoration of relationships seems essential to understand the dynamics of partnerships. The theoretical and managerial implications of this phenomenon thus suggest the need to undertake research in this field. "The study of repair, forgiveness, and reconstruction of relationships should be a high priority for organization and management scholars and practitioners" (Van de Ven 2004).

Although current research in marketing, which is related to the study of dissolving business relationships or to the analysis of their restoration, does represent a necessary preliminary basis, it nevertheless appears limited when it comes to giving a clear account of the repairing process. That is the reason why we have resorted to models developed in social psychology in order to build a process model of the restoration of deteriorating partnerships.