Revision with unchanged content. Businesses and their supply chains are
becoming more global each day. Many factors have combined to make
sourcing outside the home country more financially lucrative for the
firm. However, this trend has occasionally been frustrated by failures
of undertakings and relationships with firms based in other countries.
In many cases the realization of benefits from such relationships is
dependent on the acknowledgement of differences between the cultures of
the home countries of the firms involved. In fact, such dif-ferences may
also influence the inception of the relationship itself. Here the author
addresses the following questions: Which non-financial performance
measures are important in buyer-supplier relationships? Is there a model
for relationship-building applicable across various industries? How are
such relationships affected by differences in national culture with
regard to sup-pliers from a variety of countries? How important is
cultural "similarity" in global sourcing? This book is addressed to
researchers in supply chain management, purchasing, and organizational
behaviour, as well as profes-sionals in supply chain management.