In today’s dynamic business environment, firms are required to utilize efficiently and effectively all the useful resources to gain competitive advantage. Supplier development has evolved as an important strategic instrument to improve buyer supplier relationships. For that reason, this study focuses on providing the strategic significance of supplier development approaches to improve business relationships. By using qualitative research method, an integrated framework of supplier development and buyer-supplier relationship development has been tested and validated in a Finnish case company to provide empirical evidence. It particularly investigates how supplier development approaches can develop buyer-supplier relationships. The study present a set of propositions that identify significant supplier development approaches critical for the development of buyer-supplier relationships and develop a theoretical framework that specifies how these different supplier development approaches support in order to strengthen the relationships. The results are produced from an in-depth case study by implementing the proposed research framework. The findings reveal that supplier development strategies i.e., supplier incentives and direct involvements strongly effect in developing buyer-supplier relationships. Further research may focus on considering indepth investigation of trust and communication factors along with propositions developed in the study to find out general applicability in dynamic business environment. Proposed integrated framework along with propositions is a unique combination of useful solutions for tactical and strategic management’s decision making and also valid for academic researchers to develop supplier development theories.
Reliable and good suppliers are an important competitive advantage for a customer and that is why the development of suppliers, improvement of performance and enhancement of customership are also in the interest of the customer. The purpose of this study is to clarify a customer’s possibilities to increase the performance of a service provider and to develop the service process in FM services and thus help to improve partnership development. This research is a qualitative research. The research complements the existing generic model of supplier development towards partnership development by customer and clarifies the special features that facility management services bring to this model. The data has been gathered from interviews of customers and service providers in the facility management service sector. The result is a model of customers’ possibilities to develop the performance of service providers from the viewpoint of value addition and relationship development and in that way ensure added value to the customer and the development of a long-term relationship. The results can be beneficial to customers when they develop the cooperation between the customer and the service provider toward being more strategic and more partnership focused.
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