As technology continues to advance and new products emerge, the interactions between buyers and suppliers have changed. The management of buyer–supplier relationships has increasingly become more dependent on new technologies, such as Partner Relationship Management (PRM) systems and computer-mediated communications (CMC). Furthermore, when new technologies emerge, suppliers are expected to educate their buyers about the benefits of the technology, train them on how to use it, and aid with the integration of the technology into pre-existing work processes. Given these issues, this special issue of Industrial Marketing Management explores the changing nature of buyer–supplier relationships in the Digital Era. This article presents a snapshot of the changes in buyer–supplier relationships brought on by new technology, provides an overview of the selected articles in this special issue, and offers a few directions for future research.
Managing buyer–supplier relationships has always been crucial to firm success. In order to properly manage these relationships, buyers and suppliers must maximize trust and cooperation, minimize opportunism and risk, and collaborate on setting and accomplishing goals (Doney and Cannon, 1997 and Zaheer et al., 1998). These activities all require open and extensive communication channels. However, in the Digital Era, these communication channels have changed (Nohria and Eccles, 1992 and Song et al., 2007). Buyer–supplier relationships are less dependent on face to face communications and more dependent on digital communications (McIvor & Humphreys, 2004). Furthermore, the ongoing emergence of new technologies, such as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and social media, has made effective communications even more crucial as firms decide which technologies are appropriate for them and their supply chain partners (Ganesan, 1994 and Seppanen et al., 2007). It is crucial for both buyers and suppliers to understand how these new technologies affect their relationships and how these technologies can be optimized.
While a great deal of published research on customer–firm relationships in the Digital Age has focused on end users and consumer markets, much less research has dealt with the impact of digital communications on the relationships between buyers and suppliers in industrial marketing. Therefore, this special issue of Industrial Marketing Management focuses on the role of industrial or B2B buyer–supplier relationships in the Digital Era. Conceptual, empirical and case-based manuscripts were invited with potential topics including: optimizing communication through technology, the role of the buyer–supplier relationship in technology adoption, minimizing risk through technology, the evolving role of the supplier in the digital era, and the potential pitfalls of technology in buyer–supplier relationships. From 26 submitted papers, and after 3 rounds of review, we assembled 7 manuscripts that truly captured this theme. With topics including open innovation in new product development, disruptive technologies, Partner Relationship Management (PRM) systems, and customer value creation, this special issue covers a variety of hot button topics that all center around the buyer–supplier relationship. While we believe this special issue strongly contributes to the topics at hand, we believe that the opportunity to conduct research in this area will continue to grow as new technologies emerge and buyer–supplier relationships evolve. Next, we offer an outline of the current state of this stream of research, give an overview of the articles in this issue, and then suggest an agenda for future research.
