“…With the rapid proliferation of information technology (IT), the importance of supplier management has been amplified during recent years (e.g., Fine, 1998; Hanfield & Nichols, 1999; Kaplan & Sawhney, 2000; Simchi‐Levi, Kaminsky, & Simchi‐Levi, 2000; Hall & Braithwaite, 2001). A number of empirical studies also show that operations managers indeed consider the role of supplier to be critical for superior business performance (e.g., Flynn, Schroeder, & Sakakibara, 1994; Choi & Hartley, 1996; Vonderembse & Tracey, 1999; González, Quesada, & Mora Monge, 2004). These studies emphasize the importance of cost, quality, delivery performance, and other criteria for selecting suppliers; however, can firms freely switch their suppliers just based on the above concerns?…”