Niels Peter Mols () (Department of Management, University of Aarhus, Denmark) Poul H. Andersen () (The Aarhus School of Business) David Birks () (School of Management, University of Bath, England) Per Nikolaj D. Bukh () (Department of Management, University of Aarhus, Denmark)
Abstract
Industrial consumers' use of single, dual or multiple sourcing strategies indicate, for example, how loyal they are towards their suppliers and whether they are transaction-oriented or relationship-oriented. in consequence, information about buyers' sourcing strategies is useful for sellers when evaluating and targeting different customer segments. This paper starts by reviewing the literature on single, dual, and multiple sourcing. It then goes on to investigate possible relationships between European corporate customers' sourcing strategies with regard to their domestic cash management banks in 1996 and 1998, and their intentions to increase or decrease the number of banks they use. It then goes on to examine their sourcing strategies by their geographical location, company size, industry type and market coverage. A questionnaire completed by more than 1000 corporate customers in 1996 and 1998 reveals that in most European countries the number of companies using three or more banks has decreased. Futher, it indicates that the single sourcing segment is large in Austria, Ireland, and Norway. The segment relying on dual sourcing is large in the Scandinavian countries, whereas the segment using three or more banks is the largest in France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain. No strong significant relationship is found between the descriptors of sourcing segments and company size, indutry type,and market coverage, but the results show a widespread intention of reducing the number of banks used. Finally, the implications of these results are discussed.
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Publisher Info
Paper provided by School of Economics and Management, University of Aarhus in its series Management Working Papers with number
1999-2.
Find related papers by JEL classification: M31 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting - - Marketing and Advertising - - - Marketing M30 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting - - Marketing and Advertising - - - General G20 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - General