During the last two decades, several researches have examined different variables in order to build a conceptual framework to measure the quality of the relationship between companies and their suppliers.
These initiatives seek to define the behaviors that have a direct impact on this good communication, in order to encourage and ensure subsequent efficiency in the supply chain.
Satisfaction or commitment are, for example, indispensable requirements in any relationship, but only a couple of pieces in that complex gear that in the end guarantees more stable and lasting business.
What other variables directly affect the quality of the company-supplier relationship?
It is basically the positive effect following the evaluation of all aspects of one organization's working relationship with another. As long as the companies experience success in their joint activities, they will also experience satisfaction over time, partly due to the perceived compatibility of one with the other.
Commitment to a business relationship will result in a desire to develop a stable relationship and a willingness to make sacrifices to maintain that relationship. That willingness to make sacrifices will also be linked to an orientation.
It is often described as a specific structure, process or outcome between organizations. The establishment of any of these between organizations is itself a coordination outcome, because it involves joint action between the parties.
There are two types: passive and active. The former refers, for example, to forgetfulness or unwillingness to report a performance correctly; the latter could be, for example, deceiving a business partner. Either way, opportunism is a variable that reduces efficiency in a relationship and is negatively related to trust.
Specific assets are efforts to adapt the company's resources to the supplier's needs. For example, customizing the business or aligning marketing activities with those of a supplier.
A buyer's dependence on its suppliers is defined as the buyer's need to maintain an exchange relationship with the supplier in order to achieve the desired objectives.
Formalization guidelines constrain the behavior of supply chain participants. Buyers and suppliers know what to expect from each other in the future; therefore, increased formalization is expected to reduce the potential for conflict and be a stabilizing mechanism that makes planning between the two easier.
It refers to the certainty on the part of the companies towards their suppliers that the relationships will be long-lasting, as well as the efforts of both to achieve this objective. The formation of strategic alliances is a good example.
It is the guidance on how one organization works with another. Therefore, cooperation is defined as a spirit of willingness of one organization to work with another organization.
Trust reduces uncertainty in a relationship. If an organization trusts another, it will intend to cooperate with it. From another perspective, it is suggested that trust provides reasonable assurance that desired goals and outcomes will be achieved, which should lead to a greater inclination to cooperate.
Excerpt from the article "The quality of the relationship in the supply chain", published in the second edition of the magazine 'INCAE Business Review'.
