Abstract
Aim: This thesis examines how Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) can be reimagined through Service-Dominant Logic (S-DL) and Service Ecosystem (SE) thinking to better support sustainable, collaborative supplier relationships in contemporary procurement. It addresses a central conceptual gap in SRM theory and wider literature: the limited integration of supplier segmentation, SRM, and service ecosystem thinking. This matters because SRM and supplier segmentation continue to be guided largely by exchange-based, buyer-centric assumptions, while contemporary SRM increasingly emphasises collaboration, broader value creation, and interdependence. More specifically, the study investigates whether service ecosystem concepts can provide a stronger conceptual basis for reinterpreting the Kraljic Matrix (KM) and whether value can serve as the organising concept linking these domains.
Methods: The study adopts a Design Science Research (DSR) methodology and is structured in two phases. Phase One developed and refined an SRM business case artefact through iterative cycles of practitioner feedback using surveys and interviews. This phase clarified how SRM is justified, governed, and resourced in practice, and highlighted the need for a broader and more relational understanding of value. As such, it allowed for SE theorising in terms of SRM and related tools, thinking, and practice. Phase Two developed and evaluated an enhanced supplier segmentation artefact, the Kraljic Korridor (KK), using practitioner interviews, vignette-based reflection, and thematic analysis to examine whether a service-ecosystem-informed approach could support a more contemporary approach to supplier positioning than the traditional KM.
Findings: The findings suggest that persistent SRM implementation difficulties are not only managerial but also conceptual. While procurement discourse has broadened towards collaboration, trust, resilience, and value creation, many tools and practices remain grounded in goods-dominant, exchange-based assumptions. Participants described supplier relationships as dynamic, multi-actor, and value-laden, requiring clearer organisational framing and more relationally sensitive segmentation. The study also found that the procurement practitioner may be understood as a focal coordinating actor within the procurement service ecosystem. In this context, the KK enabled a broader understanding of value co-creation, relational development, and supplier significance than traditional KM alone.
Research limitations/implications: The study’s contribution is bounded by its design-oriented scope. Although it addresses persistent challenges in SRM, it does so through two artefacts: an SRM business case framework and the Kraljic Korridor (KK). The findings are grounded in expert participation, iterative development, and vignette-based practitioner evaluation, which provide strong practice relevance, but their transferability will depend on organisational context, maturity, governance, and capability. The study therefore contributes through conceptual integration, artefact development, and practitioner-grounded evaluation. In particular, the KK provides a conceptually credible and practically meaningful extension of the KM, but it now requires further empirical testing through implementation in live organisational settings.
Contribution: This thesis contributes to SRM scholarship by arguing that implementation difficulties are, in part, linked to a conceptual misalignment between strategic relationship ambitions and the evaluation criteria used to segment and manage suppliers. It contributes to supplier segmentation theory by positioning the KM as a foundational but partial tool within SRM and by examining whether supplier positioning can be reconceptualised around a broader, more dynamic understanding of value. It contributes to service ecosystem scholarship by translating service ecosystem concepts into a procurement-relevant form through artefact design and evaluation. Taken together, these contributions support the argument that value provides a useful integrative concept linking SRM, supplier segmentation, and service ecosystem thinking.