Purpose ? The objectives of this paper are, first to identify, from the literature, the key themes in the management of strategic relationships, second to apply those themes to understand how exemplary organisations establish and develop strategic relationships and third to determine the role of...

For established manufacturing nations, increased competitive pressure has been the way of life since the late 1970s. For the most part however, production decision making in manufacturing industry has not changed to meet these new challenges. It usually takes a subordinate strategic role to the...