تعامل با تامین کنندگان در CRM: نقش عدالت در روابط خریدار تامین کننده

Given the crucial role of suppliers in collaborative supply chains, it is surprising that little attention has been paid to the nature and management of supplier relationships in the implementation of a retailer's Customer Relationship Management (CRM) strategy. To address this gap in the extant literature, the theory of organizational justice is used to explore the extent to which perceived fairness in buyer–supplier relationships supports or inhibits supplier engagement with the CRM process. The rationale is that suppliers who feel fairly treated by key retail customers are more likely to invest resources in the acquisition and use of data central to the retailer's CRM strategy. By empirically testing a conceptual model linking downstream CRM to upstream SRM, the results provide evidence to indicate that customer data use is significantly influenced by perceptions of fairness, particularly with respect to the distribution of rewards, and the transparency of decision-making processes. As a key criticism of CRM centers upon the failure of organizations to exploit the full potential of customer data, the results highlight the usefulness of understanding the relational linkages between buyers and suppliers and the consequential behavior of suppliers in terms of engagement with customer data vital to the success of retailers’ CRM strategies.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) suggests that firms must not only develop a knowledge base, but also develop capabilities in knowledge management to allow modified responses to customers on a continual basis (Campbell, 2003 and Garrido-Morreno and Padilla-Meléndez, 2011). Customer loyalty data is one such source of customer-specific insight, and if utilized, can result in increased competitiveness, improved customer satisfaction and retention (Leenheer & Bijmolt, 2007). Grocery retailers, in particular, collect and utilize customer loyalty card data to tailor product categories according to customer wants and needs. However, this requires the engagement of suppliers, whose knowledge of design and manufacturing should be utilized in order to facilitate superior value and competitive supply chain advantage (Barrett and Barrett, 2011 and Tseng, 2009). Notwithstanding this, little is known regarding the role suppliers play in the CRM implementation by retailers, and specifically the extent to which buyer–supplier relationships support or inhibit supplier engagement. In particular, there is a lack of empirical research (Chen & Huang, 2007) into the role of social interaction amongst individuals in intra-firm knowledge management, resulting in calls for research to utilize theoretical knowledge from other fields, such as psychology, in order to understand the behavioral aspects of supplier innovativeness within collaborative relationships (Schiele, Veldman, & Huttinger, 2011). The primary purpose of this paper, is therefore to empirically investigate how behavior by buying organizations, at both the individual and the organizational level, impacts upon the use of CRM data by suppliers within close, collaborative relationships. The main contribution of this research is the finding that suppliers are significantly influenced in their use of customer data by how fairly they perceive they have been treated by the retailer. The paper begins by linking the literature on CRM and Supplier Relationship Management (SRM), and providing a conceptual framework using the theory of organizational justice to explain the relational linkages between buyers and suppliers, and the consequential behavior of suppliers in terms of use of loyalty card and other customer data. The paper then presents empirical evidence of the level of knowledge and engagement exhibited by suppliers of the CRM policies of Supermarket A, and the importance of SRM as a barrier or enabler to supplier engagement in the CRM process. Thereafter, a discussion of the contribution of this study to the field of CRM is presented in the concluding section of the paper.

With reference to the main objective of this study, it may be concluded that there is a relationship between how fairly suppliers feel they have been treated, and their willingness to engage with the implementation of their customers’ CRM strategy. While suppliers are recognized as an important source of innovation, they need to be motivated to invest in their customers’ requirement for new product and project developments. Suppliers will be more likely to invest in such activities if buying organizations both understand and offer value, as perceived by suppliers (Ramsay & Wagner, 2009). This reinforces the view that buyers need to make themselves attractive to suppliers, by offering value to suppliers not just in terms of financial benefits, but also in terms of strategically significant non-monetary rewards such as knowledge, competencies (Smals & Smits, 2012) and reputation (Schiele et al., 2011). Buyers also need to understand the sources of such value to suppliers, defined as various buyer behaviors and characteristics that suppliers regard as beneficial or desirable, and which may be specific to individual suppliers (Ramsay & Wagner, 2009). This study confirms that one such source of value is how fairly suppliers feel they are treated. This finding therefore has a number of implications. For practitioners, a number of initiatives could contribute to positive collaborative organizational outcomes, for example recruiting, training and rewarding individual buyers and other functional managers to ensure suppliers are treated fairly both at the organizational level and individual personal relationship level. Joint training with key own brand suppliers in marketing, merchandising and new product development could also support supplier engagement with the implementation of a buying organization's CRM strategy. This also has implications at the policy level, in particular in markets where there is a power imbalance. The adoption of a rigorous conceptual framework that measures fairness from the supplier perspective, and is administered by an independent party, would help inform both industry and policy makers. The study has also contributed to theory by adapting, testing and applying a conceptual model which draws from disciplines other than economics to include behavioral dimensions at both the organizational and individual level within collaborative buyer supplier relationships. In addition, it explores the relationship from the underexplored perspective of the supplier. Although the study identifies the role of fairness in collaborative supply chain relationships, there are a number of limitations to the research. The research is restricted to Supermarket A and their relationship with a small number of regional suppliers, therefore generalizability to other contexts is limited. Additionally, the data results are weakened due to the small sample size, therefore further research may include additional data collection from other regional suppliers to Supermarket A. Further research could consider the relationships between other supermarkets and their suppliers, or other sectors where CRM is key to strategic success. The conceptual model opens up a number of rich research avenues, including the application to other contexts; identifying other positive and negative organisational outcomes, and exploring the role of individual dimensions of justice on performance outcomes in collaborative buyer–supplier relationships.