Essays on supplier responsiveness and buyer firm value - Nyenrode ...

a similar offering. Hence, this locks the customer to the supplier and makes such brand
value sustainable.
2.9 Limitations and Future Directions
Many additional directions for future research can be suggested on the basis of the of the
current research. The first and arguably the most fundamental limitation deals with the
research design. For instance, longitudinal managerial perception may not be consistent
across the time period of measurement, which could imply that the relationships that we
measured are not linear. The research design suggestions that future studies could utilize in
order to improve upon our study are:
Longitudinal research design. Our cross-sectional study allowed us to draw
associations at best but not conclusions about causality. To further improve this design,
data collected for a time series analysis could allow the deduction of evidence regarding
causality. However, there has been some recent evidence that inferences from crosssectional
studies about causality may not be much different from inferences about
longitudinal studies (Rindfleisch et al., 2008).
Limited sample of industries for depth. We traded off depth for width within our
industry sectors. However, specific sectors may vary more with supplier responsiveness
than others. For instance, in the commodities industry, price may be more of a determining
factor, whereas in the technical goods industrial sector the supplier response may be a key
determining factor as to whether relationships continue. Future studies could concentrate on
a few sectors and check the robustness of our findings across various moderators, such as
market turbulence and increased technological risk.
Quasi-experimental design using financial and perceptual data in tandem. Prior
studies of market orientation have found conflicts between objective and subjective
measures of performance (Narver & Slater, 1990). To determine whether our findings
actually reflect real financial market sentiments and accounting data, future studies can use
financial data in tandem with perceptual data.
Other additions which might be added to the prior suggestions include:
Wider comparison of measurement metrics. In the current study, we only use
idiosyncratic risk, which within itself is a important indicator of the potential returns
involved with any relationship. However, risk is not the sole metric in the literature. Future
studies might include a wider array of metrics to examine which are better indicators than
others and why. For instance, examining idiosyncratic risk in comparison to inventory
turnover metrics or debt leverage metrics could be an interesting avenue.
Comparison of more strategies with supplier responsiveness for reducing
idiosyncratic risk. We only examine one strategy, which is market orientation as a means of
reducing idiosyncratic risk. However, there are other strategies and orientations, such as a
technology orientation or a market leadership strategy. The ways in which these strategies
and orientations influence strategic supplier-buyer relationships and their idiosyncratic risk
outcomes could be of potential interest.
2.10 Conclusions
In summation, we have empirically investigated a model that proposes a link between
supplier responsiveness and buyer cash flows in an inter-organizational context. We
have found that, to a certain extent, supplier responsiveness indirectly affects buyer
cash flows through the moderating of IdRR and supplier brand value. Specifically, we
found that market orientation has a negative relationship with IdRR. This is an
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