The impact of supplier relationships on supply chain performance of trade companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

The need for companies' interconnection and advantages of mutual business cooperation led to the development of supply chain management in the 1980s. Along with the intensified market globalization process, companies have become aware of the need to develop efficient supply chains. A supply chain includes a series of activities from planning and organizing to controlling the flow of material and services from suppliers to the final customer. The supply chain effectiveness depends to a large extent on relationships with suppliers. Thus, relationships with suppliers and supply chain performance management are important topics in academic research due to their impact on supply chain profitability. It is particularly evident in the trade industry. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to establish the relationship between supplier relationships and supply chain performance in the trade industry in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The empirical research is based on the primary data, collected by using a questionnaire. The respondents are 200 trade companies from the entire territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Various statistical analysis methods have been applied to answer the research questions addressing the issues of a potential relationship between supplier relationships and supply chain performance. The results have shown that supplier relationships positively impact flexibility, costs, and supply chain quality. There is a statistically significant interdependence between partnership and information exchange, as supplier relationships dimensions, and flexibility, costs, and supply chain quality, as supply chain performance dimensions. There is, also, a statistically significant impact of some companies' characteristics on the information exchange, supplier partnership, flexibility, costs, and quality.

Keywords

• supply chain
• supplier relationships
• supply chain performance
• trade companies