Multiple retailer supplier performance: An exploratory investigation into using SPC techniques

The relationship between buyers and suppliers is the cornerstone of all supply networks. This exploratory investigation seeks to examine whether an existing approach developed for, and used extensively in the manufacturing quality milieu, could be adapted to the dyadic relationships found at the supply network interface between food multiple retailers and their suppliers. This investigation evaluates the concept of the use of control charts to examine supplier's delivery performance into the retailer's distribution centres and to relate this to on-shelf-availability in the retailer's stores. It was found that these control charts could be adapted to monitor the supplier/retailer interface and that the results could potentially be used to monitor and manage the buyer/supplier relationship effectively.