Supplier Development and Performance Improvement in Supply Chains
Summary
Supplier development encompasses buyer-led initiatives designed to enhance the capabilities, processes and relationships of upstream partners. Through targeted investments in training, technology transfer and collaborative problem-solving, organisations seek to elevate supplier quality, reliability and innovation. Performance improvement in supply chains is achieved when these development efforts translate into enhanced delivery accuracy, cost efficiency, product quality and sustainability. Recent advances investigate mechanisms ranging from tacit knowledge exchange and green practice adoption to contract governance and mentoring schemes. Across manufacturing, agribusiness and public procurement, supplier development has emerged as a strategic lever for risk mitigation, competitive advantage and resilient networks, with particular emphasis on aligning economic, social and environmental objectives.
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Supplier Development and Performance Improvement in Supply Chains publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in supplier development and performance improvement in supply chains across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Supplier development: Buyer-driven activities aimed at improving supplier capabilities, processes and performance.
Sustainable supplier development: Initiatives that integrate economic, social and environmental objectives into supplier improvement programmes.
Supply chain performance: Multidimensional measures of efficiency, quality, cost, delivery reliability and sustainability across supply networks.
Tacit knowledge transfer: Exchange of experiential, non-codified know-how between buyer and supplier, essential for innovation and process improvement.
Contract management difficulty: The degree of complexity and effort required to administer and enforce contractual obligations within procurement relationships.
References
- Sustainable Farmer Development for Agri-Food Supply Chains in Developing Countries. Sustainability (2023).
- Exploring tacit knowledge transfer and innovation capabilities within the buyer–supplier collaboration: a literature review. Cogent Business & Management (2019).
- Supplier development and public procurement performance: Does contract management difficulty matter?. Cogent Business & Management (2022).
- Supplier Development Program Though Knowledge Sharing Effectiveness: A Mentorship Approach. IEEE Access (2021).
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