Designing Supplier Relationship Management - A process architecture for managing differentiated supplier relationships: a qualitative single-case study of a multinational corporation

Sammanfattning

Supplier relationships are central to how multinational manufacturing firms manage cost, secure supply, develop new technologies, meet sustainability requirements, and create value. As supplier bases become increasingly global, technologically diverse, and exposed to external disruptions, firms need more structured ways of deciding which supplier relationships require closer collaboration, stronger governance, or more standardized management. This increases the relevance of Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) as a structured and differentiated approach to managing supplier relationships. While existing SRM literature explains why suppliers should be managed differently, it provides limited guidance on how differentiation can be translated into an integrated SRM process architecture within large and complex multinational corporations (MNC). This study investigates how SRM processes can be designed to accommodate a differentiated supplier portfolio and enhance value creation in an MNC. Through an abductive qualitative single-case study, the research analyzes SRM in a multinational construction equipment manufacturer with a globally distributed supplier base. The empirical material consists of 40 semi-structured interviews with 42 respondents across internal functions, suppliers, a supplier association, and benchmarking organizations, complemented by internal documents and survey data. The findings show that SRM is present in the case organization through several tools, forums, and relationship-oriented activities, but these are not consistently connected into a shared way of working. SRM is not clearly defined or operationalized across the organization, and supplier segmentation does not systematically guide relationship strategy, governance, performance design, and operational practices. As a result, supplier relationships are often shaped by local interpretation, individual ownership, and fragmented cross-functional interfaces. The study concludes that the central challenge is not the absence of SRM activities, but the lack of a coherent process architecture that connects them. Differentiated SRM requires that strategic design, operational relationship management, and learning mechanisms are linked across the supplier lifecycle, so that supplier relationships can be managed, reassessed, and adapted in line with their strategic importance, risk, dependency, and value creation potential. The thesis contributes by proposing a revised conceptual model for differentiated SRM process design in MNCs.