The drivers of customer attractiveness, supplier satisfaction and preferred customer status: A literature review

In this paper, we focus on the preferential treatment of buyers by their suppliers. As there is a lack of detailed information regarding the reasons that suppliers serve some buyers better than others, our research addresses a supplier's evaluation of customers and how this evaluation can be influenced by buyers. To give an overview of the drivers of preferential treatment by suppliers, the provided literature review covers three research fields that are considered crucial to this issue: (i) customer attractiveness, (ii) supplier satisfaction and (iii) preferred customer status. By integrating these research topics, we provide a state-of-the-art analysis and overview of the various drivers of preferential treatment, build a preliminary conceptual model and suggest several directions for future research. The identification of the drivers and the resulting conceptual framework can serve as a stepping stone for additional research in this new field.

► Literature review on the antecedents of preferential treatment by suppliers. ► Integration of the customer attractiveness, supplier satisfaction and preferred customer literature. ► Value creation and relationship quality are recurring topics in all three streams of literature. ► Customer attractiveness is considered to be influenced by expected market growth and risk factors of the customer. ► Satisfaction relies on operational excellence and preferred customer status is awarded after strategic considerations.