The Geography of Supplier Customer Relations

Since the 1960s the economic geography literature has witnessed the development of two mainstream approaches in explaining the notion of supplier customer relationships (SCRs). These are the traditional and contemporary approaches which have emerged under the umbrella of Dualism and Post-Fordism, respectively. Briefly, Post-Fordists point to the replacement of traditional subcontracting relationships by collaborative partnership relations and draw attention to the role of physical proximity in contemporary SCRs. In contrast, dualists contend that extensive collaboration in supply chains and the spatial outcomes of this debate are exaggerated. These different views highlight the fact that we do not fully know about the structure of SCRs. In this context the Turkish automotive industry provides a very good laboratory to examine SCRs as recently there has been a great deal of activity in this sector in terms of interfirm relations. Accordingly, this book investigates the organisational and spatial structure of SCRs in this sector by focusing on two European automotive manufacturer¿s local sourcing activities in Turkey.