Control configurations in buyer-supplier relationships: environment- buyer organisation- goals and modes of control

Gwenaëlle Nogatchewsky ()
Additional contact information
Gwenaëlle Nogatchewsky: DRM - Dauphine Recherches en Management - Université Paris Dauphine-PSL - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

Post-Print from HAL

Abstract: Considering the growing externalisation of strategic activities, the problem of the control of buyer-supplier relationships is crucial. Therefore, researchers usually propose modes of control that are adapted to various environments. However, the organisations are often considered as "black boxes" whose goals are unspecified. This paper examines buyer-supplier control configurations that take into account the organisation of buying firms and their goals toward their suppliers. This research is based on six case studies conducted in the manufacturing industry (60 interviews). The outcome of the research is a matrix which represents four configurations of buyer-supplier control, based on the global purchasing environment of the buying firm (in terms of reciprocal dependence between the buyer and its suppliers). For each configuration, a type of purchasing organisation (structure and intra-organisational control of purchasing agents) and a principal goal for the buying firm are proposed: the lord-buyer wants to exert its power, the partner-buyer aims at assuring goal congruence with its suppliers, the vassal-buyer tries to reduce uncertainty and the market-buyer seeks to grasp opportunities on the market. For each configuration, the modes of control that the buyer exerts on its suppliers –in terms of means, objects of control, influence strategies of the buyer (more or less coercive) and suppliers reactions- are coherent with the main goal of the buyer.

Keywords: interorganisational control; buyer-supplier relationship; power; dependence; Goals of control (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005-05
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00145133v1
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Published in 28th EAA Congress, May 2005, Göteborg, Sweden. pp.1-20

Downloads: (external link)
https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00145133v1/document (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00145133

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Post-Print from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().