Single sourcing cmd supplier certification - Performance and relationship implications

Relationship marketing remains a hot topic among marketing scholars and practitioners. However, in industrial channels, the most compelling developments in relationship marketing are being initiated by buyers, i.e., customers-rather than suppliers or ''marketers.'' Single sourcing and supplier certification are two prominent programs of this type. This study looks at the impact of single sourcing and supplier certification on buyer/supplier relationships and purchasing performance. A mail survey was sent to 1,000 purchasing professionals to study industrial buying in the context of component rebuys (items that are inputs to the buying firm's production process and are not new to the buyer). The results suggest that single source and certified suppliers offer higher quality at lower total cost to the buyer. Moreover, these suppliers are linked to higher levels of buyer/supplier cooperation, but no increase in buyer dependence on the supplier. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.