Relational impact of buyer–supplier dyads on sustainable purchasing and supply management: a proximity perspective

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLM-10-2019-0298
• Published date: 03 November 2020
• Pages: 567-591
• Date: 03 November 2020
• Subject Matter: Management science & operations,Logistics
• Author: Thierry Houé,David Duchamp

Relational impact of

buyer–supplier dyads on

sustainable purchasing and

supply management:

a proximity perspective

Thierry Hou

e

Department of Supply Chain Management and Information Systems, ICN Business

School, University of Lorraine, CEREFIGE, Nancy, France, and

David Duchamp

Department of Strategy and Entrepreneurship,

ICN Business School, University of Lorraine, CEREFIGE, Nancy, France

Abstract

Purpose –Sustainable purchasing and supply management (SPSM) is a lever of sustainable development for

companies and remains an interesting research issue that can be analysed from various perspectives. By

considering the polymorphic concept of proximity as a theoretical support, this research studies the buyer–

supplier dyad and aims to answer the following question. How does the diversity of buyer–supplier dyad

relationships influence the SPSM of direct and indirect purchases within a manufacturing company?

Design/methodology/approach –The authors used a qualitativeapproach founded on a matrix analysis to

describebuyer–supplier relationships through the prism of the proximity concept. The field of study consists in

a single case with embedded units including a manufacturing company and a sample of 13 suppliers of direct

and indirect purchases.

Findings–The research reveals diverse combinations of proximities that characterise relationships between a

buyer and suppliers of several purchasing categories. This diversity of relational contexts influences SPSM in

different ways. The authors highlight three SPSM approaches labelled contractual, relational and embedded

and describe practices carried out with suppliers as part of the different relational profiles.

Research limitations/implications –The research is developed in a single perspective. To ensure that it

can be generalised, it should be applied in other contexts supported by new case studies.

Practical implications –The research provides practitioners with guidelines on building successful buyer–

supplier partnerships in a sustainable view. The authors’findings aid managerial decision-making by

validating the necessity of adapting SPSM depending on buyer–supplier relational situations.

Originality/value –This paper offers an original study angle on buyer–supplier relationships based on a

proximity analysis. The authors’research confirms the variety of sustainable purchasing relationships

underlined by the literature and can advance the portfolio approach to sustainable purchasing.

Keywords Buyer–supplier relationships, Sourcing and supply, Supplier management, Sustainability

Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction

Purchasing policy plays a fundamental role in corporate social responsibility (Carter and

Jennings, 2004) and has a profound impact on the management of sustainable supply

chains (Gualandris and Kalchschmidt, 2016). Greater competition, client expectations and

management engagement can motivate companies to move towards more sustainable

purchasing practices (Giunipero et al., 2012). The increasing number of regulations and

Relational

impact of

buyer–supplier

dyads

567

The authors sincerely thank Professor Britta Gammelgaard for her continuous support, and the

anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments.

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/0957-4093.htm

Received 30 October 2019

Revised 17 May 2020

29 July 2020

Accepted 14 October 2020

The International Journal of

Logistics Management

Vol. 32 No. 2, 2021

pp. 567-591

© Emerald Publishing Limited

0957-4093

DOI 10.1108/IJLM-10-2019-0298

standards has also led firms to view integrating sustainability into their purchasing

strategy (Johnsen et al., 2017). However, it is a significant challenge for purchasing

managers. This can lead firms to reconsider their sourcing strategies and how they

collaborate with their suppliers.

Consequently, research in sustainable purchasing and supply management (SPSM) has

grown considerably (Walker et al., 2012;Johnsen et al., 2017;Schulze et al., 2019). Miemczyk

et al. (2012) defined SPSM as the consideration by an organisation of environmental, social,

ethical and economic issues in its management of external resources. With this approach, the

supply of all types of resources (goods, services, capabilities and knowledge) required for

main and support activities must bring value not just to the organisation, but to society and

the economy as a whole (Miemczyk et al., 2012).

SPSM can be analysed from a variety of perspectives. With their structured literature

review, Miemczyk et al. (2012) show that the concept of sustainability in purchasing and

supply management can be examined at several inter-organisation levels, that is, the dyad,

the supply chain and the network and the stakeholders. Walker et al. (2012) suggest five axes

of study, that is, the individual, the organisation, the buyer–supplier relationship, the supply

chain and the market and other stakeholders (society or non-governmental organisations).

In this article, we choose to look at SPSM from the buyer–supplier dyad perspective for a

number of reasons. The dyad constitutes a relevant angle of study to measure the effects of

relationships on sustainability in the supply chain. Numerous works have shown that a

collaborative approach between these actors within the supply chain makes it easier for firms

to achieve their sustainable development goals (Gold et al., 2010).

Generally, buyer–supplier relationships have a strong influence on the overall

performance of the supply chain (Hollos et al., 2012) and virtuous interactions between

these two actors contribute to improving sustainable supply chain management (Pagell and

Wu, 2009). For Touboulic and Walker (2015), the different perspectives of collaboration

should be nuanced and supplemented by new research covering a number of different

contexts. Some scholars, such as Carter and Easton (2011) and Meinlschmidt et al. (2018),

recommend that new research should take a more qualitative approach to provide deeper

insight into the complexity of dyadic relationships. Walker et al. (2012) consider the buyer–

supplier dyad as one of the most applied levels of analysis in SPSM, capable of illuminating

pertinent sustainable purchasing and procurement issues. In their significant literature

review, Ghadimi et al. (2016) show that, in a procurement context, sustainability is widely

applied in the perspective of the buyer–supplier dyad. The authors maintain that new

research is needed to assess tangible and intangible influencing factors in relationships

related to environmental and social issues, especially supplier assessment. The opportunities

to involve purchasing in sustainability are manifold (e.g. purchasing greener materials,

components or services, selecting more sustainable suppliers, fostering sustainability among

suppliers) (Fel, 2009). This further intensifies the diversity of buyer–supplier relationships

regardless of the purchase category. These elements demonstrate that the dyad remains an

interesting perspective and lead us to propose to answer the following question in our

research.

RQ1. How does the diversity of buyer–supplier dyad relationships influence the SPSM of

direct and indirect purchases within a manufacturing company?

In order to address this question, we opted to use a proximity-based approach to analyse

buyer–supplier relationships. Initiated about 25 years ago by researchers from the Proximity

Dynamic Group, this type of approach can be applied to answer numerous questions, such as,

“Who is close to whom?”“Who is close to what?”,“What must be shared to act together?”,

“How do actors combine close and distant relationships?”(Carrincazeaux et al., 2008). The aim

is to determine how proximity as a whole generates benefits for the actors. Like Torre and

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