eThesis - School of Business electronic theses

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The purpose of the thesis is to create a model of the supplier relationship management process, which can be applied in business organizations. In addition, the thesis examines the benefits of a supplier relationship management process, how to measure the success of the process as well as the relevant stakeholders of the process.

The background literature discussed the topics of business process, sourcing, purchasing and supplier relationship management. In detail, the definitions and different elements of the concepts were identified. Moreover, several models of strategic sourcing and supplier relationship management processes were described in the thesis. After that, a theoretical framework was defined based on the academic literature.

To achieve the objective of the study, a case study research was utilized. The case company in the thesis is a Finnish-based international company that manufactures environmental instruments. Thirty-three semi-structured interviews have been conducted with the internal employees of the case company. Among those interviews, nineteen were conducted with the sourcing personnel, and fourteen were carried out with other stakeholders from other functions of the company. On top of that, two benchmarking interviews with two other Finnish-based international companies were also held in order to have a broader view of the topic. Thereafter, the interviews were transcribed and qualitatively analyzed. The as-is and to-be process were taken into consideration from the interviewees' perspectives.

The research shows that there is an urgent need for a model of the supplier relationship management process. A framework for the process was presented as the main result of the thesis. Furthermore, having a supplier relationship management process will solve the lack of standardization, the lack of harmonization in information transmission as well as the lack of strategic overview in the organization. The process should also consist of all stakeholders from different functions in the company, with sourcing in the center of the loop. In addition, it is suggested that the satisfaction survey method conducted both with suppliers and buyers are necessary to measure the relationship and the success of the process.