Small-medium supplier-buyer relationships in the car industry: evidence from Italy

This paper highlights the role of small-medium suppliers in the car industry and the support measures that carmakers can offer them to encourage innovation. Three consequential strategic trends have been observed and tested on small-medium suppliers: vertical disintegration, reorganisation of the supply base and the development of buyer-supplier relationships. In this context, small-medium suppliers tend to reduce chaos and improve communication in the supply chain by increasing verticalisation in the lower tiers and setting up joint-ventures with competitors.