Influence of the standardization of a firm's productive process on the long-term orientation of its supply relationships: An empirical study

Firms able to manage their supply relationships adequately, which is seen as a first step to success, will be able to exploit important competitive advantages. Many works have previously analyzed these supply relationships in very different contexts and considered the influence of various factors. The influence of the standardization of the productive process on the temporal orientation of interfirm relationships has been analyzed in some depth with respect to sales activities, but rather less in the relationships that standardized firms establish with their suppliers.In an attempt to fill this gap in the literature, the current work analyzes the possible influence of the standardization of the firm's productive process on the long-term orientation of firm–supplier relationships. Specifically, we use a sample of Spanish firms to analyze the moderating effect of this variable on this temporal orientation. Dividing the total sample into two subsamples – “standardized firms” versus “non-standardized firms” – we obtain interesting results and implications about the effects of trust, communication, cooperation, satisfaction and commitment on the long-term orientation of these relationships.