Niels Jaring Pulles

Towards a social exchange theory perspective on preferred customership — concept and practice

In the situation of an increase of the role of suppliers, for instance in innovation processes and a scarcity of suppliers, buying firms find themselves in competition for the benevolence of suppliers. In this conference contribution, we introduce the concept of preferred customer status, i.e. a buyer is awarded preferential treatment by its key suppliers when compared to the supplier’s other customers. As there is a lack of knowledge of what motivates suppliers to treat certain buyers better than others, our research focuses on the suppliers’ evaluation of customers and how it can be influenced by buyers. Based on social exchange theory, we propose a conceptual model that contains customer attractiveness, supplier satisfaction and knowledge of alternative customers as factors influencing suppliers to award preferred customer status to a certain customer. Besides, based on a novel World-Cafe method, we show what practices CPOs and consultants experience to be important in increasing attractiveness of customers and satisfaction of suppliers. We conclude by suggesting future research directions in this field.

Winning the competition for supplier resources: The role of preferential resource allocation from suppliers

Purpose This paper examines the competition between buying firms for the supplier’s competitive resources. The purpose of this paper is to examine how indirect capabilities – the ability to access external resources – can help in obtaining preferential resource allocation from suppliers. Design/methodology/approach Partial least squares structural equation modeling is used to analyze data of 163 buying firms that assess preferential resource allocation from suppliers. Findings Two indirect capabilities (a buying firm’s selection capability and relational capability) positively influence the firm’s competitive advantage. These relations are significantly mediated by preferential resource allocation of suppliers. The impact of preferential resource allocation appeared stronger for manufacturing firms than for service firms. Research limitations/implications This study’s data set represents the buyer’s assessment of suppliers’ resource allocation. Future research should aim for dyadic data for further validation. In addition, due to sample size limitations, this study’s data does not allow sector segmentation. A larger study that provides insights into segmentation is suggested for future research. Practical implications The results inform managers about the relevance of the competition for supplier resources with rival firms that share suppliers, and the influence of this competition on firm competitiveness. Managers should not only focus on the supplier itself, but also on the capabilities of the supply chain management (SCM) function to recognize and integrate the supplier resources. Originality/value This study adds to the extended resource-based view literature by integrating the notion of supplier resource competition. In addition, the study shows the importance of indirect capabilities for obtaining preferential resource allocation from suppliers. Finally, the authors show the importance of separating between service and manufacturing when examining SCM practices.

The competition for supplier resources

Suppliers can have a major influence on the overall competitiveness of a firm. When firms lack certain capabilities or resources within their own organization, collaborations with suppliers can help them to acquire these resources and capabilities externally and improve competitive advantage. However, for many firms, leveraging the supplier base for competitive resources remains a key challenge. This is especially the case when competing firms seek to acquire similar resources from the same supplier base. This dissertation examines how firms can acquire better resources than competitors from suppliers that are shared with these competitors. A central question is how can buying firms obtain preferential resource allocation from suppliers? This dissertation addresses the above question based on four research objectives. The first research objective includes an examination of the preferred customer status construct. The subsequent research objectives have a more theoretical focus. The chapters that link to these objectives build on the preferential resource allocation construct and theorize on the construct’s antecedents, the effects of the construct on the performance of the buying firm and the dimensions of the construct itself. The findings presented in this dissertation provide important insights to those interested in the competition for supplier resources. Practitioners can use these findings to make better decisions on the supply management practices they adopt to influence supplier resource allocation.