Title: Strategic buyer-supplier relationship improvement: development of constructs and measurement

Authors: Sarang Prakashrao Joshi; HarshVardhan Bhasin; Rakesh Verma; Manoj Govind Kharat

Addresses: National Institute of Industrial Engineering, Vihar Lake, Powai, Mumbai – 400087, India ' National Institute of Industrial Engineering, Vihar Lake, Powai, Mumbai – 400087, India ' National Institute of Industrial Engineering, Vihar Lake, Powai, Mumbai – 400087, India ' National Institute of Industrial Engineering, Vihar Lake, Powai, Mumbai – 400087, India

Abstract: Buyer-supplier relationship improvement has become a potentially valuable way of securing competitive advantages and improving organisational performance. The current study aims to develop a reliable and valid measurement scale of buyer-supplier relationship improvement leading to competitive advantages. It discusses a framework for buyer-supplier relationship improvement strategy with focus on development and validation of constructs for the same. The study presents the key items that could be considered for respective constructs viz., drivers for supplier development, supplier development practices, buyer-supplier relationship practices, buyer-supplier relationship improvement, competitive advantages and profitability. To examine the impact of supplier development and buyer supplier relationship practices, a survey of 512 Indian manufacturing companies was conducted. The statistical analysis through successive stages of measurement analysis and refinement provided strong evidence of reliability, factor analysis as well as convergent, discriminant validity of the constructs. Thus, the study provides reliable and valid measures for each construct.

Keywords: supplier development; buyer-supplier relationships; competitive advantage; relationship improvement; organisational performance; profitability; India; manufacturing industry.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSCIM.2016.081822

International Journal of Supply Chain and Inventory Management, 2016 Vol.1 No.4, pp.306 - 341

Accepted: 22 Aug 2016
Published online: 26 Jan 2017 *

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