The study uses social capital theory to analyze how social capital and supplier development support achieving supplier satisfaction and preferred customer status. The resulting model is compared between manufacturing and service suppliers. The study advances the literature in two main ways. First, it elaborates the role of supplier development and social capital in the path toward supplier satisfaction and preferred customer status as perceived by suppliers. Second, it study answers the calls for a better understanding of the contextual characteristics underlying potential differences in how preferred customer status is formed.
Paper authored by Aki Jääskeläinen, Katrina Lintukangas and Frederik Vos is published in International Journal of Operations and Production Management and is available open access here:
https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOPM-01-2022-0023