Supplier competence alignment: Cases from the buyer perspective in the Brazilian market

The research presented here has a double purpose. On the one hand to better define and frame the field of inter-organizational transfer of competences, and on the other to suggest that the competence-based marketing view can well stem from marketing initiatives targeting not just customers, or customers' customers, but also other actors in the market, in this instance suppliers.This research focus has led us to select a precise area of study so as to obtain situations in which the probability of the existence of transfer of competence is high. We chose to centre the study on transfer of competences in the area of logistics between MNCs and their local suppliers in Brazil.Research findings lead to proposals regarding correlations between types of competences transferred, transfer mechanisms and strategic objectives of the transfer.