Developing and maintaining a preferred customer status is one of the main objectives of organizations that want to obtain a better access to supplier's information, resources, and innovation. This paper addresses the extent and the nature of the purchasing department's leadership role in the process of developing and maintaining a preferred customer status. A qualitative exploratory approach based on eleven cases has been used in order to take into consideration the context specific to the buyer-supplier relationship in a preferred customer scenario.

Our study shows that the purchasing department performs four main categories of roles: (1) identifies and selects the best supplier, (2) structures and segments the supply base, (3) builds close relationships with selected suppliers and (4) develops working relationships, using an effective communication. Each of these roles is related to three key components of the purchasing department's capabilities: boundary, relational, and coordination. These four categories of roles illustrate supply's ability to recognize and understand the specifics of the preferred customer situation. Based on our analysis, the purchasing department should be viewed as extending an organization's resource base, making the organization more competitive.

Our analysis also shows that the purchasing managers' leadership is critical for the development and the coordination of activities with selected suppliers, as well as proper communication with them. Specifically, the purchasing manager's transformational leadership generates more internal user and supplier involvement through the creation and articulation of a common vision, by establishing shared goals with other organizational units, and by focusing on activities that benefit the organization; this allows to move from initiative-driven efforts to an “institutionalized preferred customer status management” in the organization.

开发和维护首选客户状态是希望更好地访问供应商的信息，资源和创新的组织的主要目标之一。本文探讨了采购部门在发展和保持首选客户身份的过程中领导角色的程度和性质。为了在首选客户方案中考虑买卖双方关系的具体情况，已经使用了基于11种情况的定性探索性方法。

我们的研究表明，采购部门扮演的角色主要有四个类别：（1）确定并选择最佳供应商；（2）构造和细分供应商基础；（3）与选定的供应商建立紧密的关系；（4）建立工作关系，使用有效的沟通方式。这些角色中的每一个都与采购部门能力的三个关键组成部分有关：边界，关系和协调。这四类角色说明了供应商识别和了解首选客户情况的细节的能力。根据我们的分析，应该将采购部门视为扩展组织的资源基础，使组织更具竞争力。

我们的分析还表明，采购经理的领导对于与选定的供应商进行发展和协调活动以及与他们进行适当的沟通至关重要。具体而言，采购经理的变革型领导通过创建和阐明共同愿景，与其他组织单位建立共同目标，以及专注于有益于组织的活动，从而引起更多的内部用户和供应商参与；这允许从主动驱动的工作转变为组织中的“制度化的首选客户状态管理”。