Supplier evaluations: communication strategies to improve supplier performance

Abstract As firms increasingly emphasize cooperative relationships with critical suppliers, executives of buyer firms are using supplier evaluations to ensure that their performance objectives are met. Supplier evaluations, one type of supplier development program (SDP), are an attempt to meet current and future business needs by improving supplier performance and capabilities. The purpose of this study was to determine how suppliers perceive the buying firm’s supplier evaluation communication process and its impact on suppliers’ performance. Three communication strategies (indirect influence strategy, formality and feedback) were tested separately and one in unison (collaborative). Using structural equation…