ABSTRACT Many organizations struggle in their efforts to establish supplier partnerships, and many such partnerships fail to live up to their potential. This paper examines why partnerships do not deliver the hoped for results, and proposes supplier satisfaction surveys as a possible remedy to this situation. Drawing upon empirical studies in the supply chain management literature, the paper establishes that (i) successful partnerships require trust to develop between organizations; (ii) such trust requires open, two-way communication; and (iii) despite the recognition of the importance of communication, a significant and persistent perception gap exists between buyers and suppliers within many such partnerships. The cause of this perception gap is then traced to a communication imbalance between buyers and suppliers. While buyers generally communicate expectations and provide feedback to suppliers, there is little evidence that expectations and feedback flow the other direction (i.e., from suppliers to buyers). The paper makes the case that buyers can use supplier satisfaction surveys to correct this imbalance and eliminate the perception gap impeding the development of effective buyer-supplier partnerships.
