International Supplier Relationship Management: From Transactional to Relational Purchasing

The already high and still growing importance of international strategic procurement in the sense of global sourcing means that firms are concentrating on supply concepts with a more international orientation. International procurement relationships when compared to national procurement relationships are characterised by more complex buying markets, a larger number and more heterogeneous buying markets, higher risk and greater uncertainty in the buying relationship and buying terms. It is more difficult to forge an international relationship since there are often the hurdles of greater geographical distance, language and cultural disparities between the actors and less frequent personal contact to overcome. The likelihood of conflict between the parties is greater and a breakdown in the supplier relationship more likely in the international context than in the national context (Dominguez/Zinn 1994, pp. 65–66).