Proposing a Compact Instrument to Measure Supplier-Customer Relationships in the Context of TQM Activities

This article reports on a study of the factors that characterize a complete supplier-buyer partnership, and a more cooperative orientation in the channel. Data were collected for 33 elements of supplier-customer relationships from 205 Canadian manufacturing organizations. The authors used principal component analysis to provide a relatively compact instrument that allows researchers and practitioners to measure supplier-customer relations more effectively and efficiently. This model of factor extraction indicates that three major components account for most of the scale variance. These components are: 1) improvement activities, 2) long-term purchasing, and 3) market adjustment. The application of this model to supplierbuyer relations has brought to light two main issues. First, the relationships between OEMs and their key suppliers have focused mainly on long-term purchasing arrangements and market adjustment. Second, joint improvement activities have not been given adequate attention despite the relative importance of this dimension of supplier-customer relations.