The role of partnership in supply chain performance

Purpose - Supply chain management emphasizes collaborative relationships between buyers and suppliers within a supply chain. The purpose of this paper is to examine the antecedents of buyer-supplier partnership and to explore its impact on the supply chain performance. Design/methodology/approach - The proposed research model was tested via structural equation modeling analysis with survey data collected in October 2007 from 141 buyer-supplier practitioners in South Korea. Findings - The results of this study imply that both strategic and operational variables are perceived as crucial factors affecting the buyer-supplier partnership; thus, this partnership relationship exerts an impact on supply chain performance. Research limitations/implications - This study provides researchers and practitioners with a more comprehensive understanding about the buyer-supplier partnership in a supply chain context. Future research should focus on developing additional constructs that may capture other aspect of buyer-supplier partnership. Originality/value - The present study makes an empirical contribution by investigating an integrated framework focusing on the antecedents of buyer-supplier partnership and its impact on supply chain performance.