IOSR Journal of Business and Management (IOSR-JBM) e-ISSN: 2278-487X, p-ISSN: 2319-7668. Volume 23, Issue 1. Ser. I (January 2021), PP 26-29 www.iosrjournals.org DOI: 10.9790/487X-2301012629 www.iosrjournals.org 26 | Page Document Analysis on Supplier-Buyer Relationship on Supply Chain Management Performance Michael Amukanga 1 Fozia Nurwin 2 1. Postgraduate Scholar, Doctorate of Philosophy (Procurement). Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology 2. PhD, Lecturer, School Of Business and Economics, Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology Abstract. Organizations have realized that competition is now in the supply chains. With an effective and efficient Supply chain management function an organization is assured of attaining a competitive edge within a given industry. This is therefore to say that Supply Chain Management (SCM) is a very important management function whose main aim should be customer service that aims at enabling an entity to achieve performance. Through customer service and helping a firm to compete, SCM has become a management function that has attracted great interest from both from researchers and practitioners. Notably as any other management function in any organization, SCM function performance has been influenced by many factors. Buyer supplier relationship is one such an importance factor. We hereby carry out document analysis on literature in order to gain in-depth analysis and understanding on how Buyer-Supplier relationship impact on the SCM performance. Key words; Supplier-Buyer Relationship, Supply Chain Management Performance, Customer Service --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date of Submission: 20-12-2020 Date of Acceptance: 03-01-2021 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. Introduction Supply chain is an important function in any industry and the firms’ success depend on it. Any firm that needs to meet customer service and be termed to be performing needs to carefully and strategically manage its supply chain activities. In today’s competitive world, top management realizes that it is not enough to improve efficiencies within an organization but rather in supply chain activities. According to Chavosh et al. (2011) in today’s highly dynamic and competitive markets, rivalry among companies is transformed from competing on the basis of own capabilities to competing using supply chains. This calls for building a strong chain that links buyers and suppliers who work seamlessly. According to PPADA, (2015) Supply chain management means the design, planning, execution control and monitoring of supply chain activities which include procurement, purchasing, logistics, transportation, warehousing, storage, stock control, contract management and distribution, with an objective of creating value to meet the objectives of procuring entity. Some of the organizational objective is meeting customer service which can be achieved through a performing supply chain. SCM is still an evolving business management function that has continued to draw interest of many business mangers due to its importance to a firm’s competitiveness. According to Chopra and Meindl (2010) supply chain management is the planning and control of activities and relationships in order to maximize customer value and achieve sustainable competitive advantage. Sayed (2013) states that supply chain is a network of producers and service providers who work on value addition of goods from the raw materials stage through to the end user. This is with an aim of meeting customer service levels. The suppliers and consumers are linked together through physical flows of raw material, work-in-progress and finished goods, information flows, and monetary flow. This is therefore to say that SCM performance can be realized when suppliers meet buyers’ expectations (Chopra & Meindl, 2010). SCM performance is a need to companies globally due to its demonstrated benefits. This can be achieved when there is a good working relationship with high levels of partnering to maximize resource utilization, develop standardized processes, eliminate duplicate efforts, and minimize inventory levels. Supply chain management performance can be viewed from the relationship perspective. Buyer- supplier relationships initiatives can focus on any aspect of supply chain operations, though transportation and inventory are frequent cost control targets (Chen, Jun-Der, & Chyou-Huey, 2014). However the weakening of global economic conditions is forcing companies to reinvent their consumers and suppliers relationships. This means when the SCM partners work together end up achieving the desired goals of saving costs and meeting customer satisfaction. In Kenya today, sugar companies are faced with an array of problems resulting from unhealthy competitions. The Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, Livestock and Cooperatives’ reported in