Identifying innovative suppliers in business networks: An empirical study

Abstract

In the literature, considerable attention has been given to the role of supplying firms in the context of innovation. However, not every supplier is capable of contributing to a buyer's innovation performance. In addition, the willingness and commitment of suppliers to collaborate with buyers is not always apparent. Thus far, the literature has not given a conclusive description of the nature of innovative suppliers due to a lack of empirical evidence. In this study, we seek to identify a set of characteristics that can identify those suppliers that can make significant contributions to a buyer–supplier collaboration. Our statistical analysis of survey data shows that a supplier's technical characteristics and collaborative attitude, and the buyer–supplier relational characteristics on buyer–supplier relationships explain an important part of a supplier's contribution to buyer innovation. At a theoretical level, the findings of this study explain why some suppliers contribute more effectively than others to buyer–supplier innovations. At a practical level, the findings provide managers with a more complete picture of those suppliers with the highest expected innovation contribution in their network.