Vanpoucke, Evelyne

Vereecke, Ann

English

Stevens (1989) was among the first to stress the strategic importance of collaboration in the 
supply chain. On the other hand, some recent studies point out that supply chain collaboration 
is no guarantee for success (Van Wassenhove et al, 2003; Vereecke et al, 2004; Holweg et al, 
2005) and that there is a need to investigate what makes a collaborative relationship 
successful. Building on the work of Mohr and Spekman (1994), Monczka (1998) and Solis 
(2004) and several other researchers (Bowersox (2000), Mentzer (2000), etc), we have 
identified three key antecedents of supply chain collaboration: collaboration attributes, 
systems & processes and conflict resolution techniques. To measure these antecedents and the 
link between the antecedents and the performance improvement of the relationship, we 
developed a survey to measure the least successful and the most successful strategic supplier and customer-relationships. Based on a cluster analysis on the operational benefits of 
collaboration, we identified 4 types of collaborative relationships: stagnant, internally focused, externally-focused and best-in-class collaborative relationships. We found that the 
characteristics of the relationships are different according to the type of collaborative 
relationship. Based on the differences in the antecedents of these clusters, we identified 
different paths to improve supply chain collaboration and we identified 4 types of capabilities 
to improve the performance of a relationship: cumulative, internal, external and progressive 
capabilities. This categorization helps management to highlight which aspects of the 
relationship require more attention, depending on the kind of benefits one wants to 
accomplish through the relationship

Vlerick Repository

Creating succesful collaborative relationships

https://repository.vlerick.com/bitstream/20.500.12127/3038/1/Vanpoucke_E_WP_CreatingSuccessfulCollaborativeRelationships.pdf

Creating succesful collaborative relationships

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Vlerick Repository