Structural and behavioural power dynamics in buyer-supplier relationships: a perceptions-based framework and a research agenda

Abstract

Power issues are increasingly important for effective management in the networked business landscape. This article seeks to increase understanding of the power within buyer-supplier relationships. This study articulates a research framework that defines countervailing and contextual events as the drivers of relationship power dynamics on structural and behavioural power dimensions. This framework is implemented in two illustrative, longitudinal case studies of technology-intensive buyer-supplier dyads in the medical sector. For this focal study, the illustrative case studies provide a basis for exemplifying the interconnection of behavioural and structural power and actors’ perceptions thereof for articulating a perceptions-based framework. The key ideas of this framework are exemplified by a set of propositions and research questions that comprise an agenda for further research. This study contributes by introducing a holistic approach to the study of power dynamics in business relationships. For practitioners, the study explicates elements and principles for managing power in business relationships.