Effective management of suppliers is one of the ways manufacturing companies can improve their performance. Typically, it has been argued in the literature that close relationships with suppliers should be developed, in contrast to the traditional price-driven transactional relationships....

Supplier base management is an important aspect of the management of manufacturing operations, as reducing the number of suppliers – the supplier base – is a key approach in many companies including the US and the UK. By having fewer suppliers, manufacturers have more time to work closely...

Product support is a key aspect in the marketing of high-technologyproducts, since it strongly influences customer satisfaction and can also be animportant source of revenue. Typical forms of support include operatortraining, equipment maintenance and, if necessary, repair - all of these...