From suppliers marked to buyers marked

Abstract

One of the most significant changes in the paradigm of modern business management is that individual businesses no longer competes as solely autonomous entities, but rather as supply chains. As the importance of the supply side has increased during the last few decades, relationships with suppliers have become increasingly important to buying firms as an increasing number of companies have subscribed to the idea that developing long-term collaboration can significantly improve efficiency of the over all supply chain.

An industry where supply chain management is considered especially important is the Oil and Gas Industry as it involves many contractors and suppliers. This is an industry that is categorized with high uncertainty, technological complexity and long lead times. Thus, an efficient supply chain is a valuable way of securing competitive advantage and securing organizational performance. The oil and gas industry has the past year been influenced by low oil prices and cost savings and both suppliers and buyers are all affected by these challenges.

This research has explored two dyad relationships in the oil service industry. The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the phenomenon of how a buyer-supplier relationship in the oil service industry is affected by today’s oil and gas market. This research has explored such a relationship with an oil service company as our case company and two of its suppliers.

For the research design, and explorative case study was chosen, where primary data has mainly been collected through interviews at all three of the participating companies. The relationships have been analyzed by use of several theoretical aspects in supply chain management as well as inter-organizational theories. The findings show that a good buyer-supplier relationship is crucial for companies when faced with challenges in the market. We have concluded that companies, both buyers and suppliers, should invest in maintaining the relationship with their trading partners if they seek a long-term cooperation.