15. (In)dignity in Restaurant–Supplier Relationships: The Perspective of Managers

This chapter aims to contribute to answering this question: what criteria managers involved in business-to-business relationships apply to evaluate the dignity of suppliers? The study comprised 29 restaurant managers in Recife, Pernambuco; one of the most important gastronomic centers in Brazil. By the time of the study, the restaurants were operational for at least 10 years, and customers ranged from 100 to more than 5000 a day. The restaurant managers pointed out three categories of problems related to the relationship with their suppliers: product delivery time and schedule; flexibility to change and return products; control of the quality and quantity of products. The findings have shown that vulnerability is inherent to the context of business-to-business restaurants and suppliers, but this condition is not enough to characterize a violation of dignity. It depends on the suppliers’ intention of taking advantage of the restaurant managers. Business-to-business relationships of dignity depend on the alignment between micro-norms and hyper-norms, high trust and reliance between managers involved in the micro-contracts, and the intention of managers of not taking advantages of each other. This study innovates by putting the subject of dignity in the heart of the organizations–suppliers relationship.