Do Suppliers Benefit from Collaborative Relationships with Large Retailers? An Empirical Investigation of Efficient Consumer Response Adoption

Abstract

Collaborative manufacturer-retailer relationships based on efficient consumer response (ECR) have become ubiquitous over the past decade. Yet academic studies of ECR adoption and its impact on marketing relationships are relatively scarce. Inspired by the relational view of competitive advantage, the authors empirically investigate whether the extent to which suppliers of a major retailer adopt ECR has a beneficial impact on their outcomes. The results demonstrate that whereas ECR adoption has a positive impact on supplier economic performance and capability development, it also generates greater perceptions of negative inequity on the part of the supplier. However, retailer capabilities and supplier trust moderate some of these main effects. The overall results are robust with respect to differences in supplier size as well as between branded and private-label suppliers.Daniel Corsten is Associate Professor of Supply Chain Management and Vice-Director of the Kuehne, and the anonymous JM reviewers for their helpful comments. They also acknowledge the assistance of Elisabeth Honka for her dedicated support with the data collection and analysis.

Role of power in supply chain performance: evidence from agribusiness SMEs in Uganda

“…(Erin Anderson and Weitz, 1992) showed that 17 perceptual differences can negatively affect the relationships among chain members and 18 results dissatisfaction and conflict. Similarly, while buyers and suppliers both benefited from 19 collaborations, suppliers had a greater feeling of inequality (Corsten and Kumar (2005).…”

Supply Chain Collaboration (SCC) - A Pilot Study of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Danang

“…It is clear that collaboration is the key to achieve supply chain management. Increasingly, firms are building collaborative relationships with their supply chain partners in order to achieve efficiencies, flexibility, and a competitive advantage (Nyaga et al, 2010) by adopting a long-term approach with joint efforts by each partner create unique value that neither partner can create independently (Corsten and Kumar, 2005). Collaboration is vital for firms in supply chain (Su et al, 2008) because of the fact that the ability to compete has been directly linked with their ability to collaborate with other enterprises.…”

Shopper Centric Category Management in Convenience Stores: a Qualitative Study

“…The ECR foundation is that all stakeholders in a retail value-chain should be understood as a single entity, working together to maximize chain efficiency and add value to the end customer (Reyes & Bhutta, 2005). The ECR philosophy comprises four main areas (Corsten & Kumar, 2005): demand management, supply management; enablers (e.g. standards of electronic messages); and interfaces or integrating elements (e.g.…”