Collaborative relationships within a subsidiary network context: a case study in the automotive industry (original) (raw)

This paper explores buyer-supplier relationships (BSR) in the automotive and component industries. More specifically, it investigates the collaborative business relationships between a Portuguese based subsidiary of a major American automotive manufacturer and its Portuguese based direct suppliers (PBDS). This paper attempts to capture the extent of collaboration in the dyadic business relationships (DBR) involved, and to identify the factors that influence the establishment and development of collaboration in these DBR. In particular, the network of external relationships a subsidiary company has with its direct suppliers is investigated and conclusions drawn. A qualitative approach is favoured and a single case study is used. The research approach is cross-sectional in design and is descriptive and exploratory. This paper demonstrates a number of results: (1) the dyadic level of analysis is a necessary, but not sufficient unit of analysis to understand buyer-supplier relationships...