Dependence in Buyer-Supplier Relationships – Present State and Future Perspectives

Purpose: Buyer-supplier relationships are characterized by dependence between the partners. Although dependence is considered to be a crucial factor in long-term dyadic relations, research on buyer-supplier dependence (BSD) appears to be isolated and scattered across different research domains and across single findings within the domain.Design/methodology/approach: This paper conducts a systematic review of the literature to integrate these contributions into a coherent framework as a basis for future studies.Findings: The present state of BSD research can be divided into the sub-areas of dependence sources, forms, effects, and mediating influences as well as the actor’s perceptions and management measures. These categories present a comprehensive overview on the field and serve as a basis to suggest selected research areas for future studies.Originality/value: Prior overviews on BSD are limited to minor areas of the domain by focusing on single issues and selected actor perspectives, thus neglecting major findings and interrelations between them. This systematic review tries to depict the entire scope of the domain by interlinking and structuring distinct sub-areas to serve as an orientation framework for future studies.Paper type: Literature review.