The purpose of the study was to identify how to implement a purchasing process in a small company and to investigate which means of transport is most suitable to use at the different delivery distances. The goal was divided into two research questions: • Research question 1: Which purchasing process and purchasing role should the company follow? • Research question 2: Which means of transport are most suitable to use in accordance with the needs of the company? The research method used to answer the goal and the research questions was a literature study and a case study. A literature review was made to understand the subject in a broader context and to gather a case study for empirical results. The case study was conducted at a small company in the construction industry in Södermanland in Sweden, which currently does not have a purchasing process. Based on collected empirical data, the company has encountered some problems. The first problem is that there was no purchasing process to be able to start after which it leads to the company buying in products and testing them if they are customizable and if they do or do not fit, the goods are saved in a containment unit. The second problem is regarding the choice of transportation method for purchased goods in relation to the distance and their needs. Students has, through literature studies, scientific articles and interviews with the company, produced an overview of how to structure and systematize purchasing work, and which means of transport are suitable for the company to be able to collect goods. / Syftet med studien var att identifiera hur man kan implementera en inköpsprocess i ett litet företag samt att undersöka vilket transportmedel som är lämpligt att använda i olika leveransavstånd. Målet var indelat i två forskningsfrågor: • Forskningsfråga 1: Vilken inköpsprocess och inköpsroll ska företaget följa? • Forskningsfråga 2: Vilket transportmedel är mest lämpligt för att använda för transport utefter företagets behov? Forskningsmetoden som används för att besvara på målet och forskningsfrågorna var en litteraturstudie och en fallstudie. Det gjordes en litteraturgranskning för att förstå ämnet i ett bredare sammanhang samt genomfördes en fallstudie för att insamla empiriska data. Fallstudien gjordes hos ett litet företag i byggbranschen i Södermanland i Sverige som inte har en strukturerad inköpsprocess. Utifrån uppsamlad empiri är det känt att företaget stött på några problem. Först och främst finns det ingen inköpsprocess att kunna utgå ifrån, vilket det leder till att företaget för tillfället köper in produkter och testar deras anpassbarhet, och ifall de inte kommer till användning så förvaras de undan. Det andra problemet angår vilket transportmedel som är lönsammast utefter deras behov och transportsträcka. Studenterna har genom litteraturstudier, vetenskapliga artiklar och intervjuer med företaget frambringat en överblick av hur man kan strukturera och systematisera inköpsarbete, samt vilka transportmedel som lämpar sig för företagets behov.

The concept of commitment has emerged recently in international business literature especially in explaining importer behaviour as a counterpart of the process of internationalisation. Importer commitment often plays a dominant role as one of the major factors influencing relationships in the exporter-importer dyad and facilitates the process of internationalisation by imparting access to the international market. This critical importer and supplier relationship and its animating factors are, however, overlooked and largely neglected in the literature. Accordingly, it is inconclusive as to which factors influence importer commitment and how they influence it. Drawing on the literature, this study strived to investigate the spectrum of importer commitment and has explicitly examined eight factors influencing importer commitment to a foreign supplier by integrating the factors in a comprehensive model. Cultural similarity between importer and overseas supplier, knowledge and experience of the importer, the supplier's competencies, communication between importer and supplier, the supplier's opportunism, the importer's trust, importer transaction-specific investment, and environmental volatility of the import market have been identified as possible antecedents of importer commitment. Theoretical foundations are drawn basically from transaction cost economics, internationalisation process theory and resource-based theory of the firm to design a basic framework for quantitative investigation. Further, the study endeavors to gain important insights into the phenomena related to the trust and commitment building process through qualitative in-depth interviews. In addition, to validate the qualitative reasoning, a competing quantitative model is developed where trust plays a mediating role for some of the predictor variables in the model. Primary data were collected from a sample of 232 industrial and commercial importers in a developing country for empirical verification of the quantitative models using Structural Equation Modeling. As reported in this thesis, the proposed model with minor modifications fit better with the data compared to the competing model, and it explained 56% of the variance of importer commitment. However, the analysis of the modified proposed structural model revealed that ten out of fourteen hypotheses are significant including five direct paths as antecedents of importer commitment. The mediating role of trust and opportunism in the model is also supported. Twelve interviews were conducted to add in-depth richer insights into the study for further verification of the knowledge development, and trust and commitment building process in the importer-supplier relationship. The findings support most conceptual links in the qualitative model and lend support to most of the hypothesised relationships in the modified competing quantitative model. These findings extend the application of the underpinned theories and their tenets in explaining the importersupplier commitment relationship and contribute to the body of knowledge. Implications of the findings are discussed and future research directions are recommended.

Bakgrund: I maj 2017 beslutades det att EU-reglering 2017/821 om konfliktmineraler kommer träda i kraft den 1a januari 2021. Regleringen kräver att företag inom EU kan försäkra sig om att tenn, volfram, tantal och guld (3TG) endast importeras från ansvarsfulla och konfliktfria källor. Inom litteraturen presenteras en problematik kring försörjningskedjors komplexitet och svårigheterna att spåra konfliktmineraler. Studien avser därför att skapa ökad förståelse för leverantörshantering avseende konfliktmineraler och praktiska implikationer för bolag som önskar ökad förståelse inför införandet av EU-reglering 2017/821.  Syfte: Syftet är att skapa ökad förståelse för hur företag strategiskt arbetar mot hållbarhet genom leverantörshantering avseende konfliktmineraler, samt vilka möjligheter respektive utmaningar som kan uppstå under detta förändringsarbete. Metod: Studien har ett realistiskt perspektiv samt ett induktivt angreppssätt med abduktiva inslag. Kvalitativ data har inhämtats genom sex semistrukturerade intervjuer med representanter från Atlas Copcos inköpsfunktioner, från två affärsområden, som arbetar med alternativt är bekanta med Atlas Copcos upprättade process för leverantörshantering avseende konfliktmineraler. Slutsats: Studieförfattarna finner att strategiskt arbete mot hållbarhet genom leverantörshantering avseende konfliktmineraler kan delas upp i tre övergripande områden; identifiering av prioriterade intressenter, utveckling av förändringsarbetesstrategier samt strategiska partnerskaps bidrag till synlighet inom leverantörskedjan. Dessa tre aspekter bidrar tillsammans till identifieringen och arbetet med möjligheter respektive utmaningar inför fortsatt hållbarhetsarbete med leverantörshantering avseende konfliktmineraler, vilket kan sammanfattas genom fortsatt utveckling av intern dialog samt värdet av att arbeta med Supplier Relationship Management. Kunskapsbidrag: Studiens teoretiska kunskapsbidrag är att skapa ökad förståelse för hur drivkrafter för implementering av hållbarhetsarbete, förändringsarbete samt arbete med försörjningskedjan kan bearbetas inom kontexten för leverantörshantering vid hållbarhetsarbete, samt hur dessa aspekter inverkar på varandra. / Problem discussion: In May 2017, it was determined that EU-regulation 2017/821 will enter into force the 1st of January 2021. The regulation requires that companies within the EU are able to assure that tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold (3TG) merely is imported from responsible and conflict free sources. Within literature, issues regarding supply chain complexity and difficulties with tracking conflict minerals are presented. This study therefore aims to create increased understanding for supplier management regarding conflict minerals and practical implications for other companies that aim for increased understanding before the introduction of EU-regulation 2017/821. Aim: The aim is to create increased understanding for how companies strategically work towards sustainability through supplier management regarding conflict minerals, and which opportunities respective challenges that may occur during the process of change. Method: This study has a realistic perspective and an inductive approach with abductive features. Qualitative data has been obtained through six semi structured interviews with representatives from Atlas Copco’s sourcing functions, from two business areas, who work with or are familiar with Atlas Copco’s constructed process for supplier management regarding conflict minerals. Results: The authors of this study find that strategic work towards sustainability regarding conflict minerals can be divided into three overall subjects; the identification of prioritized stakeholders, development of change management strategies and strategic partnerships contribution to visibility within the upstream part of the supply chain. These three aspects contribute to the identification and work with possibilities and challenges regarding continued sustainability efforts with supplier management concerning conflict minerals, which can be summarized through continued development of internal communication and the value of working with supplier relationship management. Science contributions: The study’s theoretical science contribution is to create increased understanding for how drivers for implementation of sustainability efforts, change management and work with the supply chain can be processed within the context of supplier management concerning sustainability work, and how these aspects affect each other.

Submitted by Priscila Miguel (plsmiguel@gmail.com) on 2012-03-29T17:17:17Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese Priscila versão final.pdf: 2954945 bytes, checksum: d6e1ee7941cd855192c9ebbc2b7bba3c (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Gisele Isaura Hannickel (gisele.hannickel@fgv.br) on 2012-03-29T17:21:27Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese Priscila versão final.pdf: 2954945 bytes, checksum: d6e1ee7941cd855192c9ebbc2b7bba3c (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2012-03-29T17:22:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese Priscila versão final.pdf: 2954945 bytes, checksum: d6e1ee7941cd855192c9ebbc2b7bba3c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-02-29 / This research aimed to study how value is created in a buyer-supplier relationship, investigating how governance mechanisms impact value creation, how this phenomenon occurs over time and testing if the model derived from the notion of economic value creation (BRANDENBURGER; STUART, 1996) can be used to measure value creation in dyads. We also tested the impact of the relational sources of competitive advantage (DYER; SINGH, 1998) on the value creation for the organizations involved. By integrating the literature on relationships in the Operations and Supply Chain field with the debate on value creation and competitive advantage in the areas of Strategy and Marketing, an integrative model to assess value creation in relationships and their development over time was proposed, based on three important theories: Transaction Cost Theory, Relational View and Theory of Social Exchange. A deductive qualitative research (BARRAT; CHOI, 2011), with 28 executives responsible for the relationship in both suppliers and buyers’ companies, was performed in two industries: Food & Beverages and Personal Care. The results shown that, in these industries, suppliers are more supportive to collaboration that the buyers, but this commitment does not guarantee exclusivity or increased volumes. Relational governance mechanisms are more common in situations involving risks to companies and when there is size or power asymmetry. The qualitative research provided evidences that the model of economic value creation of Brandenburger and Stuart (1996) can be used to assess the value created in relationships, by considering the difference between willingness to pay of the buyer company and the opportunity cost of the supplier. Additionally, the results suggest that companies should assess the gains of the relationships in the long term, as gains are created in different time for buyers and suppliers. Finally, the qualitative stage identified three distinct types of value creation in dyads: situational or episodic, incremental and relational. At the same time, based on a survey with 76 suppliers, a model to evaluate the effect of the four sources of relational advantage on value creation was tested. The measurement models analysis suggested that the constructs of mechanisms of relational governance and resources complementarity resources should be grouped into a latent variable representing the intraorganizational fit (CHEUG; MYERS, Mentzer, 2010; Saxton, 1997). The measurement model for value creation, represented by five dimensions ( relationship benefits, benefits for the supplier, benefits for buyer, switching costs for the buyer company and opportunity costs for the supplier) had good fit and can be used in future research. Using the validated models and multiple linear regression, the causal relationships between the sources of the relational advantage and value creation were tested. The results provided evidence that different sources of relational advantage have different impact on different aspects of the value created. While inter-organizational fit has positive impact on both supplier and buyer benefits, knowledge sharing has a positive effect on the relationship benefit to the relationship. The asset specificity impact the opportunity cost to the supplier, while the switching cost of for the buyer is not affected by these mechanisms in this situation. A cluster analysis was performed and two distinct groups among the respondents were identified: relational dyads and non relational dyads. There are evidences that the first cluster has better performance than the second group. / A presente investigação teve como objetivo responder a questão de como ocorre a criação de valor em uma díade, investigando como os mecanismos de governança atuam sobre o valor criado, como esse fenômeno ocorre ao longo do tempo e testando a aplicabilidade do modelo derivado da noção de valor econômico (BRANDENBURGER; STUART, 1996) para medir o valor criado em díades. Também foram testados os impactos das fontes de vantagem relacional segundo a perspectiva da visão relacional sobre o valor criado para as organizações envolvidas. Ao integrar a literatura sobre relacionamentos do campo de Operações e Cadeias de Suprimentos com o debate sobre criação de valor e vantagem competitiva nas áreas de Estratégia e Marketing, a pesquisa propôs um modelo integrativo para se avaliar a criação de valor em relacionamentos e seu desenvolvimento ao longo do tempo. As principais correntes teóricas usadas foram a Teoria de Custo de Transação, a Visão Relacional da estratégia e Teoria das Transações Sociais. A pesquisa empírica qualitativa, tomando um caráter dedutivo (BARRATT; CHOI, 2011), com entrevistas com 28 gestores responsáveis pelos relacionamentos em díades dos setores de Alimentos e Bebidas (A&B) e Higiene Pessoal, Perfumaria e Cosméticos (HPPEC), tanto em empresas compradoras como fornecedoras, forneceu evidências de que, nos segmentos investigados, os fornecedores adotam um comportamento mais propenso a colaboração do que as empresas compradoras, mas que esse comprometimento não é garantia de exclusividade ou aumento de participação na relação e que mecanismos de governança relacional são mais comuns em situações que envolvem riscos para as empresas compradoras e quando há assimetria de tamanho e poder entre as partes. As entrevistas forneceram evidências que o modelo de valor econômico de Brandenburger e Stuart (1996) pode ser usado para avaliar o valor criado nos relacionamentos, considerando-se a diferença entre disposição a pagar da empresa compradora e o custo de oportunidade do fornecedor. Adicionalmente, os resultados sugerem que a avaliação dos ganhos em relacionamentos deve ser feita longitudinalmente, visto que há alternância de ganhos entre as partes. Por fim, a etapa qualitativa permitiu identificar três tipos distintos de criação de valor em díades: valor situacional, incremental e relacional. Em paralelo, foi testado um modelo para avaliar a influência das quatro fontes de vantagem relacional no valor criado para empresas compradoras e fornecedores, com base em 76 respostas de empresas fornecedoras. A análise dos modelos de mensuração sugere que os construtos de mecanismos de governança relacional e complementaridade de recursos podem ser agrupados em uma variável latente representando o alinhamento intraorganizacional - fit (CHEUG; MYERS; MENTZER, 2010; SAXTON, 1997). O modelo de mensuração para valor criado, representado por cinco dimensões de primeira ordem, denominadas benefícios para a relação, benefícios para o fornecedor, benefícios para o comprador, custos de troca para a empresa compradora e custos de oportunidade para o fornecedor se mostrou adequado e com bons ajustes. A partir dos modelos validados, as relações causais entre os recursos relacionais e as várias formas de operacionalizar valor foram testadas, utilizando-se regressão linear múltipla. Os resultados forneceram indícios de que diferentes fontes da vantagem relacional têm impacto sobre distintos aspectos do valor criado. Enquanto o alinhamento interorganizacional explica a variação de benefícios para o fornecedor e para o comprador, é o compartilhamento de conhecimento que influencia o benefício para a relação. A especificidade de ativos tem impacto no custo de oportunidade para o fornecedor, enquanto o custo de troca para o comprador não é afetado por esses mecanismos nessa situação. A análise de agrupamentos permitiu ainda constatar a existência de dois grupos distintos entre os respondentes: díades relacionais e díades não relacionais, sendo que o primeiro apresenta desempenho significativamente diferente do outro.

Made available in DSpace on 2010-04-20T20:14:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 61070100617.pdf: 2228039 bytes, checksum: 4712d4fbb83ae3441be70f03a1089488 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-03-04T00:00:00Z / Este trabalho aborda o tema da socialização nos relacionamentos inter organizacionais como oportunidade de geração de valor. Atualmente torna-se cada vez mais importante aprimorar o relacionamento entre empresas sob a expectativa de influenciar seu relacionamento e sua performance. Com base nesta percepção, este estudo visa mensurar o impacto dos mecanismos de socialização de compradores para a criação de valor no relacionamento cliente-fornecedor, assim como direcionar algumas oportunidades encontradas na pesquisa anterior sobre os Mecanismos de Socialização. Esta dissertação foi embasada na pesquisa original de Cousins et al. (2006) e contribuiu para o desenvolvimento do tema contando com maior exploração da literatura, atualizações, redefinições de construtos e, conseqüentemente, novas variáveis foram adicionadas à pesquisa. Foi adotado o método de pesquisa Survey e foi desenvolvida via Internet com 91 executivos de Compras e Supply Chain no Brasil entre 2008 e inicio de 2009. A amostra foi analisada utilizando o modelo de equações estruturais e os resultados mostram que os mecanismos de socialização informais possuem impacto significativo na geração de capital relacional, e em contra partida, os mecanismos formais possuem impacto relativamente inferior. / This study attempts to the Socialization mechanisms on interorganizacional relationships as an opportunity to create value. It is suggested that it becames more important to improve interorganizational relationships expecting to impact the relationship and companies performance. Based on this background, this study aims to measure the impact of buyer socialization mechanisms to create added value on buyer-supplier relationship, as well as addressing some of the shortcomings in prior research on Socialization Mechanisms. This dissertation was based on original research of Cousins et al. (2006) and it contributes to the issue development, with a deep literature review, updates, constructs redefinition and consequently new variables were add to the research. It was addopted Survey as research methodology and it was developped a web-based survey with 91 Purchasing and Supply Chain executives in Brazil between 2008 and beginning 2009. Sample were analysed through Structural Equations Modeling and results showed that informal socialization mechanism impact significantly on relational capital creation, however, formal socialization mechanism has a lesser impact.

The aim of this thesis is to evaluate sustainable procurement practices of companies in the Czech Republic. The thesis is divided in two parts. The first part focuses on theoretical background of sustainable procurement and its implementation in the company. The second part of the thesis elaborates on implementations of the theory outlined in the first part. Based on a survey, the author analyses sustainable procurement practices of large companies in the Czech Republic.

La presente tesis se centra en analizar las herramientas de ingeniería industrial que permitan incrementar el nivel de servicio interno en el proceso de abastecimiento logístico en una empresa del sector minero y con el entorno económico de los últimos 10 años. La hipótesis plantea la implementación de un sistema de control de inventarios y de la gestión de relación con los proveedores. El trabajo está compuesto de cuatro capítulos. En el primero se analizó el marco teórico y los casos de éxito. En el segundo, se abordaron temas como: antecedentes y procesos generales y logísticos de la organización, definición del problema y sus causas, el impacto económico y el planteamiento del objetivo general y específico. Por su parte, el tercer capítulo se dividió en dos etapas: la primera correspondiente al diseño de la metodología y en la segunda etapa el desarrollo de la propuesta. Finalmente, en el cuarto capítulo, se incluyó el presupuesto de recursos, el análisis financiero de riesgos y la elaboración del flujo de caja respectivo; asimismo, se validó la propuesta por medio de la simulación con el software ProModel. Por lo expuesto, se concluye que, con la correcta elección del sistema de inventarios y una adecuada gestión de relación con los proveedores, se podrá incrementar el nivel de servicio interno en el proceso de abastecimiento logístico, con lo cual se logrará cumplir con un óptimo nivel de atención de repuestos de alta rotación, así como el cumplimiento en las entregas a tiempo para las compras con prioridad normal. / The present thesis focuses on analyzing industrial engineering tools that allow increasing the level of internal service in the logistics supply process in a company in the mining sector and with the economic environment of the last 10 years. he hypothesis raises the implementation of an inventory control system and supplier relationship management. The following work is made up of four chapters. In the first, the theoretical framework and success cases were analyzed. In the second, topics such as: background and general and logistical processes of the organization, definition of the problem and its causes, the economic impact and the approach of the general and specific objective were addressed. Consequently, the third chapter was divided into two stages: the first corresponding to the design of the methodology and the second to the development of the proposal. Nevertheless, in the fourth chapter, the resource budget, the financial risk analysis and the preparation of the respective cash flow were included; Likewise, the proposal was validated through simulation with the Promodel software. Based on the foregoing, it is concluded that, with the correct selection of the inventory system and proper relationship management with suppliers, the level of internal service in the logistics supply process may be increased, thereby achieving optimum compliance level of attention of high rotation spare parts, as well as the fulfillment in the deliveries in time for the purchases with a normal priority. / Trabajo de Suficiencia Profesional

Många företag har problem med höga lagernivåer. Det innebär att hanteringskostnader ökar och att material lagras i långa perioder. Företag eftersträvar att sänka sina lagernivåer, utan att riskera att lagret blir tomt eller att material saknas. I denna studie kommer ett fallföretag att analyseras, där orsaken till höga lagernivåer och dyra hanteringskostnader identifieras. Det teoretiska ramverket är baserat på vetenskapliga artiklar, som är peer-review granskade. Teorin som används i studien är Lean, Just-in-Time (JiT), First-in-First-out (FIFO), leverantörsstyrda lager och leverantörsrelationer. Det empiriska materialet är framställt av information som framkommit under semistrukturerade intervjuer. Teorin har tillsammans med det empiriska materialet analyserats med hjälp av en tematisk analysmetod. En av orsakerna till att lagernivåerna är höga är på grund av att komponenterna beställs efter prognoser som är bristfälliga. En annan orsak är att företaget inte arbetar efter en tydlig strategi. Det resulterar i att materialet ankommer långt innan behovet och behöver lagras i flera månader. Resultatet visar att företaget kunnat använda JiT, eftersom det skulle innebära att materialet ankommer när ett behov finns. Det skulle resultera i att komponenterna inte behöver lagras under långa perioder, vilket även reducerar hanteringskostnaderna. En risk med JiT är att det kan bli materialbrist vid leveransstörningar, något som kan undvikas med hjälp av säkerhetslager. Fallföretaget har långa ledtider på vissa komponenter, något som gör att de beställer större kvantiteter och lagrar. Detta kan undvikas med leverantörsstyrda lager, då leverantörerna har ett färdigvarulager för att reducera ledtiderna. FIFO är ett bra lagringsalternativ för att reducera lagringstiden, men det kräver bra förutsättningar för att det ska fungera bra. För att undvika slöseri så hade Lean kunnat implementeras. / Numerous companies have problems with high inventory levels. Which in many cases lead to increasing handling costs, and materials being stored for a long period of time. Companies strive to reduce their inventory levels, without risking the warehouse going empty or lacking material. In this study a case company will be analysed in order to identify the cause of high inventory levels and expensive handling costs. The theoretical framework is based on peer- reviewed scientific articles. Focusing mainly on the theories of Lean, Just-in-Time (JiT), First- in-First-out (FIFO), Vender management inventory and Supplier Relationship. The empirical material is collected through semi-structured interviews. Together with the empirical material, the theory has been analysed using a thematic analysis method. One of the reasons why inventory levels are high, is because the components are ordered based on forecasts that are insufficient. Another reason is that the company does not work according to any strategy. Which is causing the material to arrive before the demand appears, requiring it to be stored for several months in advance. The result shows that the company should consider using JiT and have the material arrive once there is an actual material demand. The risks with JiT are that there could be material shortages, which could be avoided with safety stocks. The case company has long lead times on certain components, meaning that they order larger quantities and stock. This can be avoided with vender management inventory, as the suppliers have a stock of finished goods to reduce lead times. FIFO is a good storage method, but it requires good conditions to work well. To avoid waste, Lean could have been implemented.

In the global business environment, outsourcing and offshore outsourcing are strategies forfirms to handle the increasing competition in their specific market segments by utilizing the capabilities of other firms in order to gain competitive advantages. China has become animportant player on the global market and is an attractive country for Western firms’ offshore outsourcing initiatives. Even though outsourcing and offshore outsourcing havebeen discussed in the literature for a long period of time, firms are still not able to reach andfulfill their strategic goals and many offshore outsourcing projects fail. The purpose of this thesis is to deepen the existing literature regarding offshore outsourcing to China by considering the Chinese suppliers’ perspective on competitive priorities, which are thepriorities that firms organize the production by, in order to understand how the buying firmscan be more successful in the Chinese context and reach their strategic goals.

In vehicle industry, it has been trends towards focusing on pull-basedsystems and elimination of waste (Lean), which decrease the tied-up capitallevel in the focal factory. Research by Holweg & Miemczyk (2002)showed that the relevant supply chain has low inventory level in the focalfactory, but at upstream and especially downstream; the tied-up capitallevel is dramatically higher in comparison to the focal factory.By conducting research and extensive literature reviews, this volatilityof tied-up capital level has been studied and analysed with regard topush and pull systems. As the three main causes of this unevenness; bullwhipeffect, CODP position in supply chain and intensity level of supplierrelationship have been identified and explained.As a practical solution for decreasing the tied-up capital level of finishedvehicles, implementation of centralised warehouse structure hasbeen suggested and discussed.Moreover, as an application of game theory in logistics, iterated prisoners’dilemma has been discussed as the base for a progressive relationshipwith suppliers (upgrading to win-win game) which is requisite for the successof pull-based supply chains. / Program: BSc in Industrial Engineering - International Business Engineering