Effects of Business to Business Relations on Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty in the Context of a Developing Country

Abstract

In the supply chain context, effective business to business (b2b) relationships are of core importance for companies to enhance their own ability to be more competitive in the marketplace, to create competitive advantage and to achieve mutual goals. Therefore, the focus of this research is customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and affecting factors of satisfaction and loyalty in manufacturer/supplier relations in the b2b context. This paper defines dimensions of b2b relationships between manufacturers and their suppliers, and then proposes effects of these dimensions on customer satisfaction and loyalty. Study is performed in the metal industry in a developing country, Turkey. Collected data is analyzed by Structual Equation Modeling (SEM) Methodology, and finally results are presented and discussed.