ABSTRACT

Purpose

A long-lasting buyer–supplier relationship is vital for any business organization to be successful. The purpose of this study is to explore the factors that affect the supplier satisfaction in buyer–supplier relationships and to explore their causal relationships.

Methodology

The work is an attempt to probe the issue of supplier satisfaction in a purchasing relationship and the various factors that might have a bearing on this relationship. An instrument, developed for this purpose after conducting wide-ranging discussions with Heads and Operations Officers of supplier firms as also the available literature on the subject, was validated through pilot testing. A selection of nearly 300 Indian suppliers comprised the respondent firms in our study who were invited to participate in our online or paper-based survey. Partial Least-Squares path modeling (PLS) was the technique chosen to evaluate the proposed model.

Findings

The paper builds on earlier research on the topic to replicate their study in a new context. The major findings of our research relate to the following aspects: (a) assess the importance of supplier satisfaction for the buying firm to receive preferred customer status, (b) re-establish the importance of cooperation as a precursor for managing the buyer–supplier relationship, and (3) apply the PLS analyses method to evaluate the factors and their order in terms of their contribution to the overall supplier satisfaction level. The results show that the important positive effects on supplier satisfaction in buyer–supplier relationships are the ones linked to cooperation, coordination, payment policy, and purchasing policy by this order.

Research implications

This study extends previous meta-analyses suggesting that proper cooperation could be the source of a competitive advantage enjoyed by the firms on both sides of the supply chain. The present study provides a guidance toward conducting future research on satisfaction measurement in buyer–supplier relationships from the perspectives of both buyers and suppliers.

Practical implications

The present study explores how factors like conducive policy, transparent communication, and coordination efforts by the buyer affect the value in the buyer–supplier relationships. Our findings present three direct implications for managers of buyer firms. First, the work provides an empirically grounded argument for making conscious efforts toward improving cooperation with supplier firms to achieve better supplier satisfaction. Second, the work provides guidelines to the managers for prioritizing synergetic investments in developing sustainable and fruitful relationships with suppliers. Third, the study results indicate a word of caution for managers who aim to simultaneously improve the buyer firm’s information technology (IT) capability while ignoring its integration with the IT infrastructure or the lack of it that exists in the supplier firms.

Originality/Value

This paper investigates why supplier satisfaction is relevant for buyer–supplier relationships and what are the relevant factors associated in this context. The findings expand the current understanding of these concepts by building upon practitioner inputs and survey results.

中文翻译：

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买方-供应商关系中的供应商满意度：从供应商角度评估

摘要

目的

持久的买​​方-供应商关系对于任何商业组织的成功都至关重要。本研究的目的是探索影响买方-供应商关系中供应商满意度的因素，并探讨它们之间的因果关系。

方法

这项工作试图探讨采购关系中的供应商满意度问题以及可能对这种关系产生影响的各种因素。在与供应商公司的负责人和运营官进行广泛讨论后，为此目的开发的工具以及有关该主题的可用文献，通过试点测试得到验证。近 300 家印度供应商包括我们研究中的受访公司，他们被邀请参加我们的在线或纸质调查。偏最小二乘路径建模 (PLS) 是选择用于评估所提出模型的技术。

发现

该论文建立在对该主题的早期研究的基础上，以在新的背景下复制他们的研究。我们研究的主要发现涉及以下几个方面：(a) 评估供应商满意度对于采购公司获得优先客户地位的重要性，(b) 重新确立合作作为管理买方-供应商的先导的重要性(3) 应用 PLS 分析方法来评估因素及其顺序对整体供应商满意度的贡献。结果表明，买方-供应商关系中对供应商满意度的重要积极影响是与合作、协调、支付政策和采购政策相关的订单。

研究意义

这项研究扩展了先前的元分析，表明适当的合作可能是供应链双方公司享有的竞争优势的来源。本研究为未来从采购商和供应商的角度对采购商-供应商关系中的满意度测量进行研究提供了指导。

实际影响

本研究探讨了有利政策、透明沟通和买方协调努力等因素如何影响买方-供应商关系的价值。我们的研究结果对买方公司的经理提出了三个直接的影响。首先，这项工作为有意识地努力改善与供应商公司的合作以实现更好的供应商满意度提供了一个以经验为基础的论点。其次，这项工作为管理人员提供了指导方针，以便在与供应商发展可持续和富有成效的关系方面优先进行协同投资。第三，

原创性/价值

本文调查了为什么供应商满意度与采购商-供应商关系相关，以及与此相关的相关因素是什么。通过建立在从业者的投入和调查结果的基础上，这些发现扩展了目前对这些概念的理解。