Customers have lately become of increased importance in supplier innovation processesthrough inter-firm relationships. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to study how suppliercustomer relationships affect supplier innovation. By stemming from three main theoreticalconcepts, supplier-customer relationships, trust and commitment, and supplier innovation, a theoretical framework to base the analysis on was formed. The thesis utilized a qualitative casestudy research approach, where data was collected from a conducted pilot study, semistructured interviews, and secondary data sources. A small supplier within the Swedish techindustry was chosen as the unit of observation, where the supplier and two of their customerswere interviewed regarding innovation processes they had partaken in together. The results ofthe study indicate that communication and trust are important enablers of initiating jointinnovation practices. The supplier perceived the most valuable resource to receive fromcustomers in an innovation context to be knowledge about markets and demand. The resultsindicate that such knowledge could be easier for suppliers to obtain if multiple customers areincluded in innovation processes, and future research should therefore focus on comparing thebenefits and risks of single versus multiple customer involvement in supplier innovation.

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Initial observation shows that there is a knowledge gap between the demand of the end customers and the supply of material and products provided by suppliers. The culprit manifests in the nature of the construction industry, seen as conservative and not prone to innovation combined with lackluster incentives between the contractor and supplier through framework agreements. Collaboration is not developed, presented through the fact that each actor relies on each other to gain information on sought after products and material. The research aims to present how supplier-based innovation can promote the development of new products and materials that are of value to the end customer. This is done by conducting a case study within a general contractor and interviewing suppliers, purchasers, and end customers to understand how collaboration could be a first step to create an ecosystem in which new products and materials are developed. The results show that collaborative product development would be suitable in certain instances, such as with a general contractor with an own developing unit in collaboration with a preferred supplier or framework supplier. / Inledande observation visar att det finns ett kunskapsgap mellan efterfrågan från slutkunderna och utbudet av material och produkter från leverantörer. Boven visar sig i byggbranschens karaktär, sedd som konservativ och inte benägen till innovation i kombination med svaga incitament mellan entreprenör och leverantör genom ramavtal. Samverkan utvecklas inte, detta kan observeras genom att varje aktör förlitar sig på varandra för att få information om eftertraktade produkter och material. Forskningen syftar till att presentera hur leverantörsbaserad innovation kan främja utvecklingen av nya produkter och material som är av värde för slutkunden. Detta görs genom att genomföra en fallstudie inom en byggentreprenör och intervjua leverantörer, inköpare och slutkunder för att förstå hur samarbete kan vara ett första steg för att skapa ett ekosystem där nya produkter och material utvecklas. Resultaten visar att samverkande produktutveckling skulle vara lämplig i vissa fall, till exempel med en byggentreprenör med en egen utvecklingsenhet i samarbete med en föredragen leverantör eller ramleverantör.