Determinates of Buyer-Supplier Relationships: The Effects of Organizational Culture

Abstract

Buyer-supplier relationship has been gaining increasing attention in the last few decades. A skilled and loyal supplier base has proved to be a key source of competitive advantage. Despite such attention, most of the research done focus on studying the importance and advantages of buyer-supplier relationships and how they yield operational and financial values. Very little research focus on studying the determinants of such relationship. Only few studies have tried to answer the question, why some organizations tend to build stronger and long-lasting relationships with their suppliers thank others. On the other hand, why some organizations are determined to maintain a competitive relationship with their suppliers despite the negative long-term effects. If we are to encourage more collaborative relationships among buyers and suppliers, researchers and practitioners need to asses the determinants of collaborative buyer-supplier relationships. This paper is an attempt to cover such a gap through empirically investigating organizational culture and its effects on buyer supplier relationships in New Product Development Projects (NPD).