University of Twente Student Theses
Antecedents, Benefits and History Development of the Preferred Customer Status in a Buyer-supplier Relationship: a Multiple Case Study at Accell Nederland BV and Three of her Suppliers
Broeze, H.G. (2015) Antecedents, Benefits and History Development of the Preferred Customer Status in a Buyer-supplier Relationship: a Multiple Case Study at Accell Nederland BV and Three of her Suppliers.
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| Abstract: | As interest in buyer-supplier relationships increased, research on preferred customership started. Where customers selected their suppliers in the past, suppliers now select their customers. Although the benefits, antecedents and history development of a preferred customer status have been addressed in literature, they have not much been addressed in practice. A case study at Accell Nederland BV was used to address these elements in the bicycle industry. Accell is a preferred customer to the suppliers interviewed, who all stated that the relationship could not, be improved, or only by increasing business. The case study showed that there are substantial differences between a Dutch and a Chinese supplier in all three aspects, which might be due to cultural differences, which is another field of research. The most surprising finding is that in this case, still most agreements are based on words, which indicates a high amount of trust. The two major streams on history development seem to contradict, however in this case they complement each other. Single events lead to a start of business, where the relationship emerges over time. Operational benefits were barely found, where literature expects it to be one of the major streams of benefits. However, most other benefits, such as discounts, better service and quality, and innovation are present. Also benefits not addressed by literature, such as advertisements and sponsoring were found. The case showed that the antecedents found in literature hold. Customer attraction and supplier satisfaction are indeed important antecedents to the preferred customer status of Accell. Nevertheless, it was also said that Accell is an attractive customer because of the preferred customer status. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Bachelor) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 85 business administration, organizational science |
| Programme: | International Business Administration BSc (50952) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/67365 |
| Export this item as: | BibTeX EndNote HTML Citation Reference Manager |
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