AbstractsBusiness Management & Administration

Considering the fierce global competition among businesses and the demand of consumers to pay less for goods and services, companies are faced with finding ways to reduce the costs of the goods that they provide, whilst at the same time, making some profit to stay in business. In doing so, there arises the need to focus on reducing costs in their supply chain, deal with suppliers that they can rely on, and maintain better relations with their suppliers. This means that better supplier management now plays an important role in the success of a business. This prompts companies to periodically evaluate the performance of their suppliers to make sure that these suppliers do meet/comply with those criteria set up by the companies. This assures companies that their suppliers can deliver the raw materials they need at the time they need them and at the prices that both the companies and their suppliers are satisfied with. In this study, I tried to investigate if supplier evaluation does help in making them offer better services, enhancing cost savings, helping companies to reach their goals and, at the same time, maintaining better relations with the companies and helping in long-term performance. My study was able to reveal that supplier long-term performance can be achieved by continuous supplier evaluation, partnering with suppliers, trust, commitment, socializing, giving unbiased feedback, and using collaborative relationships in working with suppliers. The findings of this study will be of particular interest to purchasing professionals who desire to see improvements in their suppliers’ performance in that it will help them to better understand those criteria and other factors that they need to pay attention to when evaluating their suppliers.