روابط مشارکتی خریدار تامین کننده و اطلاعات پایین دستی در کانال های بازاریابی

Research on buyer–supplier relationships has emphasized the importance of collaboration and business networks. We aim to study the effects of downstream information on the collaborative buyer–supplier relationship. Downstream information refers to the information a firm obtains from marketing channels, be they wholesalers, distributors or retailers. The approach allows firms to concentrate their efforts on the most relevant sources of information and not on the whole network. Survey data was gathered from the Dutch potted plant and flower industry to test this hypothesis. Our findings demonstrate that collaborative relationships are contingent on downstream information from both the buying perspective (wholesalers) and from the supplying perspective (producers).

Collaborative buyer–supplier relationships have been extensively studied in the literature (e.g. Batt & Purchase, 2004). Collaboration represents a departure from the discreteness that underlies spot-market transactions toward a more relational approach (Dyer & Singh, 1998). The complexity of any collaborative relationship requires safeguarding and coordinating mechanisms. In particular, research on safeguarding and coordinating collaborative relationships has emphasized the importance of information obtained from a firm's network of business contacts. There is evidence that the information from the network influences alliance performance (Baum, Calabrese, & Silverman, 2000), inter-organizational learning (Powell, Koput, & Smith-Doerr, 1996), collaborative relationships (Dyer, 1996), contract design (Antia & Frazier, 2001), commitment (Blankenburg, Eriksson, & Johanson, 1999) and flexibility (Wathne & Heide, 2004). However, a firm's network is a complex social structure that entails a costly web of contacts (Golfetto, Salle, Borghini, & Rinallo, 2007). Maintaining and exploring the information benefits of all contacts require a great deal of resources and time. Therefore, a firm may be concerned about the quality of the sources of information within its network of contacts. In this paper, we aim to study the effects of downstream information on collaborative buyer–supplier relationships. Downstream information refers to the information obtained from a firm's marketing channels, be they wholesalers, distributors or retailers. Following the marketing channel and supply chain literatures, we develop a hypothesis to investigate the sources of information that influence the collaboration. The supply chain literature emphasizes the importance of integrated systems of product supply (Lambert & Cooper, 2000) while marketing channels literature emphasizes the integrated systems of product distribution channels. A manufacturer may obtain information from its upstream ties, its first or other upper tier suppliers. The manufacturer may also obtain information from its downstream ties, its wholesalers or retailers. We argue in this paper that the information from downstream ties is essential for collaborative buyer–supplier relationships. The downstream ties are located close to end consumers and can diligently communicate consumers' demands (Fournier & Mick, 1999). Once a manufacturer maintains close ties with retailers and distributors, the manufacturer obtains information about consumer reactions to its products. The manufacturer can quickly adapt production processes to improve the product mix and packing, for instance. Focusing on the downstream information allows firms to concentrate their efforts on the relevant sources and not on the whole network of business contacts. This is in line with Salancik's (1995) advice to avoid “not seeing the trees for the forest”. We therefore argue that ties with downstream firms offer timely information that allows firms to collaborate further with a partner. We test our hypothesis using survey data of companies' responses to a questionnaire about relationships. All respondents are producers and distributors, located in the Netherlands and their primary business is potted plants and flowers. The following section (2) of the paper introduces the matter of collaboration and after that Section 3 treats the matter of information from downstream sources. Section 4 presents the rationale of our hypothesis, and Section 5 describes the study domain and the constructs used in the statistical estimates. We end with Results, Discussions and Concluding remarks.

Collaborative buyer–supplier relationships are becoming important for business success (Mohr and Spekman, 1994 and Kim, 1999). Collaboration involves joint actions and flexibility that allow firms to achieve mutual goals. Managing collaboration in a buyer–supplier relationship requires mechanisms to safeguard and coordinate. Literature on supply chain and marketing channels emphasizes the importance of a firm's network of business contacts in the way buyer–supplier relationships are managed (e.g. Dyer, 1996 and Wathne and Heide, 2004, Jan). The image of atomistic actors competing for profits against each other in an impersonal marketplace is increasingly inadequate. The business environment creates a positive climate for firms to be involved in networks of social, professional and exchange relationships with other firms and people (Granovetter, 1985, Gulati, 1998 and Jarillo, 1993). This paper provides evidence that collaboration is contingent on the information firms obtain from downstream ties. While several studies claim that the whole network is essential for business purposes, our study shows that firms focusing on downstream information increase their degree of collaboration. The comparison among the sources of information raises an interesting discussion about the consumer oriented approach to networks. This suggests that one may analyze a network by focusing on the downstream sources and evaluate the information value of the network based on demand-orientated chains. We found empirical evidence in the theoretical discussions of Cook and Emerson (1978), Granovetter (1985) and Powell (1990). Cook and Emerson (1978) and researchers of the European IMP group (Blankenburg and Eriksson, 2000, Batt and Purchase, 2004, Apr and Hakansson and Johanson, 1993) claimed that the network is formed by relationships that are connected to the degree that exchange in one relation is “contingent” upon exchange (or non-exchange) in the other relationship. This study supports the idea that the “contingent effect” refers in part to the impact of information that flows through the connected relationships with firms downstream in the marketing channels, such as wholesalers and retailers. Moreover, Granovetter (1985) and Powell (1990) emphasized the importance of the network in increasing the level of collaboration and also that this information functions as a mechanism to safeguard collaboration. By examining our survey sample, we found support for our hypothesis. Thus, the results of the survey provide important evidence in support of the theoretical discussions at hand.