THE CLOSE BUT ADVERSARIAL MODEL OF SUPPLIER RELATIONS IN THE US AUTO INDUSTRY

While cooperative buyer-supplier relations are an important source of sustainable competitive advantage, noncooperative behavior persists wi dely. This paper tests a model incorporating noncooperative behavior w ithin a context of formal commitment, using data form the U.S. auto in dustry. This 'close, but adversarial' model appears to be reasonably w ell supported by the data, suggesting that even within professed coope rative buyer-supplier relationships adversarial behavior persists. In contrast, a small but significant minority of the relationships were f ound to be characterized by high levels of trust as well as informal c ommitment. The results suggest specific strategies for developing coop erative supplier relations. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.