Buyer - Supplier Perspectives on Practices, Success Factors and Barriers in Supplier Development using Multiple-case Study Approach in the Food Industry in Sweden

Abstract: Background: The evolving business environment in the past two decades has brought new business practices to help in delivering high quality products to the customer at low costs. Among these new practices is outsourcing which highlights the role of suppliers. The difficulty of finding suppliers that possess the right capabilities to deliver high quality components with high delivery performance has led buying firms to use supplier development (SD) to enable suppliers satisfy the needs of the buying firms. Developing a supplier helps in imrpoving its performance and enables both the buyer and the supplier to reap short and long-term benefits from an SD relationship. Purpose: The purpose of this research is to identify, exemplify and interpret the practices, success factors and barriers in SD within buyer - supplier dyads. Three dyads are examined examined based on the views of both the buyer in this research and its three main suppliers in the food industry in Sweden. Method: This research is conducted under the umbrella of the Phylosophy of Interpretivism with a focus on the Hermeneutics tradition. The research strategy is qualitative and the theory is based on a deductive approach. A holistic multiple-case study design is applied on a buying firm and its three main suppliers in the food industry in Sweden. The data is collected through semi-structured interviews with the firms and analysed by using within case, cross case and pattern matching methods. The research quality (truth criteria) is based on trustworthiness and authenticity. Results, Conclusion: From the SD practices, success factors and barriers identified in the literature review, 10 practices are performed in the buyer - supplier dyads, 11 success factors reinforce the dyadic relationships and 2 main barriers hinder these relationships.