تلاش های توسعه ای تامین کننده: دیدگاه تامین کنندگان

Reliance on few competent suppliers has driven companies to be more involved in their suppliers' activities. Supplier development (SD) is a supplier management practice implemented with strategic suppliers. Whereas research adopting the customer's standpoint indicates that SD activities have a positive impact on supplier performance, few studies have examined the supplier's perspective. We explore the conditions favoring suppliers' participation in SD activities using survey data from a sample of Canadian manufacturers. The empirical results of this study suggest that trust and preferred customer status are key antecedents of supplier participation in SD activities, and confirm the positive impact of this participation on the suppliers' operational performance. The results indicate that a dynamic environment also motivates suppliers to participate in SD activities.

Developing and maintaining supplier relationships has been identified in the literature as an essential component of firm competitiveness (Carr and Pearson, 1999 and Sheth and Sharma, 1997). Over the past decade, there has been a growing consensus concerning the strategic importance of collaborative relationships between customers and suppliers (Spekman & Carraway, 2006). Several academic studies have pointed out the benefits of cooperation with suppliers (Gadde and Snehota, 2000 and Harland et al., 1999). A growing number of firms have rationalized their supply base; this lets them cooperate more closely with a limited number of key strategic suppliers. Concomitantly, more and more customers recognize that strong involvement in their suppliers' activities gives them a competitive advantage. Supplier development (SD) initiatives are usually needed when managing key supplier relationships (Gadde and Snehota, 2000, Monczka et al., 1993, Olsen and Ellram, 1997 and Wagner and Johnson, 2004). SD is defined as a long-term cooperative effort by a company to upgrade its suppliers' technical capabilities, quality delivery, and costs in view of continuous improvement (Hahn, Watts, & Kim, 1990). Research on SD has mostly taken the buying firm point of-view to explore the antecedents and consequences of SD initiatives. Less is known about the supplier's perspective of SD. However, the success of SD initiatives depends on both, buyer and supplier. In order to better plan and implement their SD initiatives, buyers need to understand suppliers' motivations and worries in participating in these improvement efforts (Krause, Ragatz, & Hughley, 1999). The objective of this study is to explore SD activities from the supplier's standpoint. The specific goal is to identify factors that motivate suppliers to participate in their customers' SD initiatives, and to analyze the impact of SD activities on suppliers' operational performance. Two research questions will be answered: 1) What conditions encourage suppliers to participate in their customers' SD activities? and 2) How does participation in SD activities affect suppliers' performance. Survey data from a sample of Canadian manufacturers unveil the relevance of trust and preferred customer status in favoring suppliers' participation in SD activities and the role of the environment in motivating supplier's participation. The empirical results also reveal the positive impact of this participation on the suppliers' operational performance. The remainder of the article is structured as follows. First, the literature on SD activities is summarized and integrated. A model of relationships between the variables examined is proposed, followed by a description of the research methodology used to test the model. Lastly, the empirical results are presented, along with the discussion of results and the conclusion.

Proactive strategies oriented to improve supplier's performance are part of key supplier management programs. The success of SD programs depends on supplier and buyer motivations and efforts. Whereas most studies of SD activities focus on the customer's perspective, this study explored that of the supplier. The findings show a direct relationship between SD efforts and supplier performance in relationships with their customers. This link has not been confirmed in previous studies focused on the supplier's side of the dyad. Results also unveil the importance of trust and preferred customer status in supplier participation in SD activities and the influence of the environment of SD activities. While the link between trust and SD activities is not new, the relevance of the two other antecedents of SD activities had not been tested before. We deliberately chose to analyze the role of these factors in suppliers' motivation to participate in their customers' SD activities. It would be interesting to explore other relational factors discussed in the literature, such as the effect of an imbalanced relationship (Johnsen and Ford, 2008 and Krause, 1997) or the supplier's dependence (Carr et al., 2008). Some suppliers would not have the choice, at least in the short term, of not participating in SD initiatives promoted for a customer they are strongly dependent on. As most previous research in SD, we measure SD activities using a single scale. The items we used mostly assess moderate levels of SD practices (Sánchez-Rodríguez et al., 2005). It would be interesting to take an in depth look of the diverse SD activities actually deployed in buyer–supplier relationships. A detailed assessment of SD activities would allow exploring the antecedents and consequences of different levels of supplier development practice. It is plausible to expect that advanced levels of SD activities such as joint activities oriented to improve supplier's capabilities in terms of product design, supply chain management or manufacturing techniques require very large investments from the supplier. Since the risk of participation in this kind of activities is considerable, suppliers would expect a larger return in terms of performance improving than when participating in basic or moderate activities such as communication, assessment and certification processes. This study focused on the supplier's operational performance improvement as the expected consequence of participation in SD activities. Future studies could explore the impact of SD activities on suppliers' financial or marketing performance.