Paper info

Relationship drivers influencing the nature and development of dyadic relationships in industrial markets: empirical evidence from Portugal

Douglas K. Macbeth, Maria de Lurdes Veludo and Sharon Purchase

The paper was published at the 17th IMP-conference in Oslo, Norway in 2001.

From a conceptual point of view it is accepted that in order to understand the businessenvironment of companies we have to look beyond ordinary buyer-supplier relationshipsand into intricate webs of firms forming networks. The existing literature on buyer-supplierrelationships rarely makes a connection between a dyadic and a network approach and mostempirical studies fail to catch the complexity of business interactions. This paper, byexploring dyadic relationships within a network context attempts to make relevantcontributions to the emerging body of knowledge in this important arena. The mainobjective of the study is to understand the dynamics of the relationships between a majorautomotive manufacturer with a network form of organisation and its suppliers located inPortugal. More specifically, this study attempts to capture the nature of the dyadicrelationships involved and to identify the factors influencing their nature and development.In this paper an inter-disciplinary approach to inter-organisational relationships is followed,based on the combination of several research streams in which Supply Chain Management,Purchasing and Industrial Marketing appear as the major parent disciplines to the specifictopics under investigation. A case study is favoured and in-depth interviews with keyinformants within both parties are undertaken. A conceptual framework, using Partnering asa central construct, is developed as a basis for the fieldwork. A Dyadic Process Model,constructed in the light of the findings of the case study where connections betweencontextual factors are specified, is presented.