Innovation in supply chain relationships: Experience from UK fresh produce industry suppliers and multiple retailer buyers

This paper focuses on vertical supply chain relationships and the application of innovative approaches to business relationships. The paper provides specific insights into retailer-supplier relationships in the UK fresh produce (fruit and vegetable) market. This sector faces a process of concentration in all parts of the supply chain determined by backward vertical integration at the initiation of powerful multiple retail buyers. The paper examines the nature of relationships from the perspective of buyers and sellers and their interaction, utilising multiple case studies. Results concern innovation in exchange relationships specifically with respect to: preferred supplier and exclusivity arrangements, use of IT (Information Technology), sourcing from small scale suppliers and the importance of social and cross-functional linkages. Analysis leads to a number of provisional conclusions regarding the development of innovation in vertical supply-chain relationships.