Absence of personal relationship in a buyer-supplier relationship: case of buyers and suppliers of logistics services provider in Australia

Abstract

While the importance of personal relationships (e.g. friendship) within supply chain relationships is well established, a gap remains on negative aspects associated with an absence of a personal relationship in the buyer-supplier relationship in the supply chain context. Because there is very limited research in this area, a case study method is employed via semi-structured interviews with 24 senior managers from 10 different companies based in Australia engaged in the process of buying and selling logistics services. Results reveal that an absence of a personal relationship between managers of buying and supplying firms in the supply chain leads to reduced trust, non-sharing of important business ideas and sensitive business information, no peer mentoring, delay in resolving conflicts and low employee engagement. The paper concludes by discussing the contribution to practice, research limitations, and future research directions.