A cooperative relationship between supplier and buyer has become a primary concern to managers in charge of subcontracting: in order to handle subcontracting more effectively, it is necessary to understand the perception of suppliers who have different competence as well as management styles. This thesis presents an exploratory research on the perception gap between supplier and buyer with regard to critical success factors that include relational and manufacturing characteristics in the semiconductor assembly subcontracting.
The purpose of this thesis is to enable managers to achieve successful subcontracting, which means maintaining a good business relationship and increasing the production volume between supplier and buyer.
In this thesis, we study four suppliers in the semiconductor industry as subject companies, which are divided into four groups by size and technology level.
This thesis is mainly focused on the following research questions:
1) Is there any perception gap with regard to achieving successful subcontracting between suppliers with different company sizes and technology levels?
2) Is there any perception gap between buyer and supplier with respect to achieving successful subcontracting?
3) Is there any perception gap between suppliers at different levels of competence?
To answer these questions, we have conducted a questionnaire survey and interviews with four supplier companies and their buyer.
The statistical results on the manufacturing and relational factors for four supplier groups and the buyer are as follows:
First, there is a perception gap on the quality factor between large size suppliers and small ones for achieving successful subcontract.
Second, there are some perception gaps on delivery and manager's close relationship factors between suppliers with high and low technology levels for achieving successful subcontract.
Third, there are some perception gaps on both manufacturing and relational factors except price and risk sharing factors between suppliers and the buyer for successful subcontracting in the semiconductor industry.
Finally, there are perception gaps among suppliers who have different competence in achieving success subcontracting.
