ارتباط خریدار و تامین کننده: مطالعه موردی یک اتحاد ژاپنی و غربی

With the increasing liberalisation of markets, new opportunities are emerging for smaller firms with unique products and services to establish strategic supply relationships with larger component buyers, sometimes across normal cultural divides. For many Western SMEs, developing a long-term relationship with a Japanese buyer has been critical for success in the market. However this involves the challenge of adapting to Japanese style buyer–supplier relations, especially in the monitoring area. This article reports the observations made in a field study of such a culturally sensitive relationship between a Japanese buyer and a Western supplier, especially in areas such as differing perceptions of product features and quality, business procedures, and rewards. Difficulties and solutions that arose in the relationship are logged, and the advantages of training at all staff levels, the potentially critical role of ‘link-pin’ and the value of formalised linking processes are examined as ways of achieving congruence between the expectations of the two sides.

Today’s business world is one of inter-corporate relationships, found in an increasing variety and complexity of forms—joint ventures, license agreements, franchising, research/technology consortia and strategic supplier networks.1 Many of these relationships are between parties from very different national and organisational cultures, and often it is this very difference that creates the value proposition behind such partnerships. A firm valuing independence and innovation, and finding such qualities are not fostered in its own business climate, may seek an alliance with a firm from an alternative business culture. But such partnerships can face significant barriers to long-term success, mostly arising from the different perceptions and expectations of each party, which have been formed by the unique economic, social and cultural environment of their country of origin. These differences may include issues of product features, customer-driven quality, business procedures and controls and rewards expectations However, for the partnerships to flourish, these barriers must be overcome, and some productive compromises must be found between different styles of business achieved—simply imposing one partner’s business culture on the other would negate the very value proposition that underpins the choice of a partner from a different culture. This research study considers how some of these control issues played out at a single site where an Australian firm with a unique high-tech product entered a partnership as a supplier to a large Japanese firm. The relationship established can be characterised as a buyer–supplier partnership with the Western firm responsible for product development and the Japanese firm responsible for market development. The study examines the sources of the difficulties that arose and the alternative modes of adjustment that were employed to secure a successful partnership despite the differences in both scale and background business culture of the partners.

This article has examined issues relating to the monitoring of buyer–supplier relationships, focussing on how an Australian high-tech product supplier adapted to the requirements of a large Japanese buyer. The field study shows that, despite the existence of substantial differences between the firms, it was possible to develop a fruitful long-term relationship.15 Four key issues were isolated by the researchers as being fundamental to the success of these cross-cultural buyer–supplier relationships. • Good relations at the strategic level are essential to the success of activities at the operational level. Their absence will lead to fundamental instability, which will in turn affect activities at the operational level. But communication between these two levels is also important: in this case, due to weak intra-firm communication, strategic level personnel did not make a significant contribution towards ensuring successful relations at the operational level. This resulted in many differences of perception in terms of product functionality and quality. • Secondly, understanding the role of formal controls in different business cultures is important, especially in terms of the relationship between the levels of formal controls and the longevity of the strategic partnership. The study found that approaches to the need for formal controls were relative to the maturity of the partnership, and that the Japanese and Western firm approached the introduction of formal controls in a diametrically opposite manner (see Figure 1). Successful strategic partnerships must achieve a ‘balance’ between these two approaches. • Thirdly, it is essential for Western suppliers to understand the effort–reward structure in Japanese buyer–supplier relationships. In the Japanese–Western buyer–supplier relations as observed in this case, the rewards for the supplier were much lower than effort during the initial stages. Once the relationship has passed a certain ‘switching-point’ however, rewards should exceed effort (see Figure 2). Successful suppliers who can circumventing those business cultural issues that cause delays and achieve swifter understanding of the buyer’s requirements will reach this switching point faster than those who make no or unsuccessful efforts in these regards. • Fourthly, the effective use of a link-pin and the establishment of effectively managed formal linking processes may be ultimately the most important factor in the success of such strategic partnerships. This aspect was a success as well as a failure in our field study firm. The development of good communications at all levels, the balance between formal and informal controls, and the speed with which switching point is reached will very much depend on the role of the link-pin and how well the linking processes is encouraged within such a strategic partnership.