Supplier Partnership, Integration & Their Effects on Supplier Performance in Small Retailers

Abstract

Small-sized businesses must evaluate supplier performance as they create and implement strategies and policies targeted at improving their performance to obtain long-term competitive advantages. Previous research has established the benefits of supply chain management practices on large enterprise performance, but the impact of these practices on small retailers deserves attention due to the importance of this sector in the economy and organizational differences due to scale. In Rawalpindi, a survey instrument based on existing scales is designed and delivered to small shops. The application of supply chain management methods is linked to performance at both the retail and supplier levels, according to a theoretical model. According to the findings, supply chain management methods are favorably connected to supplier performance. The small merchants surveyed indicated moderate levels of supply chain management practice application. A future study might build on this work by looking at objective data on performance measures at both the retail and supplier levels, to better quantify the costs and benefits of supply chain management in this setting. The study offers a methodology for evaluating the relationship between Supplier integration, supplier partnership, with supplier performance in small-sized auto parts businesses and the findings can be generalized to similar sized retail businesses in Pakistan. The correlation between the independent and dependent variables is studied and conclusions on importance of the variables judged.