Many firms have experienced significant benefits from engaging in supplier alliances. However, alliance relationships do not evolve in isolation. Support factors for supplier alliances include purchasing’s accountability for their actions, the use of information technology, the perceived...

The use of a life‐cycle framework is explored as a means of describing the evolution of partnership relationships between industrial buyers and sellers. Based on case studies of eight manufacturing firms, industrial buyer‐seller partnerships evolve through four stages: development,...

Presents results of a survey on supplier development. Surveys were mailed to a random sample of 1,504 NAPM members. The sample was split into two groups depending on how respondents judged the results of their supplier development effort, either exceeding or falling short of expectations. The...