This research study investigated the influence of maintaining a partnership form of relationship between a Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) multinational company and its core suppliers, on their abilities to achieve supply chain agility. It took place within the Middle East region, where the in-depth case study used for data collection was Unilever (North Africa Middle East). The research also focused on the role played by information technology within Unilever’s (North Africa Middle East) partnership with its core suppliers and the achievement of a high level of agility within their supply chain. In addition to these two main aims, the research also focused on exploring the required attributes of supply chain agility within FMCG industry and also to explore the attributes of buyer-supplier partnership required to help the companies working within this type of industry to achieve agility within their supply chain. To achieve the aims and objectives of this research, this study used qualitative methods for collecting rich and valuable data. Several data collection methods under the umbrella of the in-depth case study approach were used. The methodological approach used by the research was the Grounded Theory approach (Strauss and Corbin, 1990-1998). Data was collected from the case study managerial level in Unilever’s (North Africa Middle East) main clusters within the Middle East in three different rounds, using semi-structured interviews. Data was also collected from five core suppliers for Unilever (North Africa Middle East). The research also used other data collection means, such as documents collected during the researcher’s visits to the case studies and observation. Data was analysed using the steps and procedures of the Grounded Theory approach (Strauss and Corbin, 1990-1998). Data analysis took place in three interrelated iterative steps: open coding process, axial coding process followed by the selective coding process, leading to the generated theory of the research. The findings of the study, as presented in the research’s generated theory, showed that the partnership, with its attributes explored during the research, between Unilever (North Africa Middle East) and its core suppliers can be considered as the starting driver helping the companies working within this type of industry to achieve a higher level of supply chain agility, through the attributes explored during the research. The generated theory also showed that the role played by information technology can be considered as the catalyst in this equation. It played the role of channelling the relationship between the two concepts: buyer-supplier partnership and supply chain agility. Information technology can be considered as the catalyst because the evidence indicates that without it the relationship between Unilever (North Africa Middle East) supplier partnership and supply chain agility would struggle to be achieved. In more detailed, 43 open codes had been derived from the first analysis coding process, and which were derived under the main pre-determined themes: FMCGs industry-based features, Buyer-supplier relationships, Information sharing and information technology, and Agility. These 43 open codes provided the basis for stages 2 and 3 of the analysis. In the axial coding process (the second data analysis), the axial sub categories and the axial categories were determined and the axial paradigm model was used in the analysis. In the final coding process: the selective analysis, the core category of the research was determined to be ‘Partnership existence with core suppliers’. The relationship of this core category with the other elements in the paradigm model namely: casual conditions, context, intervening conditions, action/interactional strategies, and consequences. The research has its own Theoretical, Methodological, and Managerial contributions. Among these contributions is that it can be considered a novel research, using a grounded theory approach to generate a theory, showing the relationship between buyer-supplier partnership and supply chain agility in this dimensional manner.

Cultivating profitable, long-lasting customer-supplier partnerships is a significant task for today's companies. These relationships bring value-adding benefits, including cost and risk reductions, and bring joint business opportunities (Ravald & Grönroos, 1996; McDonald, et al. 1997). Key account management deals with developing customersupplier partnerships within the business-to-business context. Key account managers are responsible for delivering customised products/services, and defining possible business opportunities for both parties, after carefully selecting buying companies according to their strategic importance for the supplier. However, key account management may be complicated for suppliers to manage especially if the selling companies do not know how to implement a key account management programme appropriately. There have been a number of studies attempting to identify approaches to successful key account management programmes (Millman & Wilson, 1995, Napolitano, 1997, Homburg et al., 2002). Abratt & Kelly (2002) were the first to investigate both buyers' and sellers' perceptions of success factors of a key account management programme. They found that both buyers and sellers hold similar points of view on what a successful key account management programme should contain.This thesis is a replication of Abratt & Kelly (2002), which refined their scale to obtain better reliability assessments and generalisability. Only some of the findings of the original study could be replicated. Six factors were extracted while only three of them were reliable. Some of the items loaded onto the same dimension in the replication as Abratt & Kelly (2002), whereas others did not. The discussion section of the thesis suggests reasons for the difference in findings and suggests future research areas based on this discussion.

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