【正文】 g strategy were extensive cost rationalisations. The main change in this process was aredefinition of the unit of analysis from individual transactions to buyer – supplier relationships. However, the costs in the relationship aredriven not only by internal factors on the two sides of the relationship but also by how the focal relationship relates to other relationships.Therefore, the ways in which the costs are affected by other parties, such as the supplier’s supplier, the supplier’s other customers, thecustomer’s other suppliers, and the customer’s customers, need to be included in the analysis.D 2003 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.Keywords: Purchasing。 MRO。 fax: +46317723783.Email address: anndub (A. Dubois).A third reason for which the supply side has e moreinto focus is the enhanced significance of interfaces withother firms (Araujo, Dubois, amp。 Ha?kansson, 1984). The development role concerns the purchasing function’s contributionto the technical development of the firm through organisingand managing relationships with suppliers. As regards therationalisation role, Gadde and Ha?kansson (2001) distinguish three main types of roles. The first is related todiscovering what needs to be purchased. The second isrelated to rationalisation of logistics activities and the thirdto rationalisation of administrative routines.To enable the purchasing function to contribute to theseroles, purchasing strategies are needed. According to Gaddeand Ha?kansson (2001), three strategic issues need to beconsidered: (1) make or buy decisions, (2) supply basestructure, and (3) nature of customer – supplier relationships.00198501/03/$ – see front matter D 2003 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.doi:(03)000105366A. Dubois / Industrial Marketing Management 32 (2003) 365–374In this paper, we concentrate on the rationalisation role andhow it affects and is affected by the supply base structure andthe nature of buyer – supplier relationships.The aim of the paper is thus to discuss how the purchasingstrategy may contribute to the rationalisation role of purchasing. In particular, it focuses on how changes towardshigher levels of involvement in buyer – supplier relationships, in parallel to efforts to reduce the number of suppliers,may impact on the suppliers’ ability to contribute to costrationalisations.The first part of the paper focuses on purchasing strategiesand how they are assumed to contribute to the efficiency ofthe firm. Thereafter, cost rationalisation through supplierrelationships is discussed and Maintenance Repair andOperations (MRO) supplies are introduced as a particularlyplicated purchasing area where there are typically largerationalisation potentials. A case dealing with MRO purchasing is presented in Section 3 and analysed in Section 4.Thereafter, the concluding discussion focuses on how andwhy strategies focused on high involvement with fewsuppliers can and should be successfully pursued. Finally,some managerial implications are addressed focusing on the‘‘total cost concept’’ and the problems and potentials of itsapplication.2. Purchasing strategiesThere are different dimensions in which purchasingstrategies are described. There are also different suggestionsas when to apply different strategies, ., how to distinguishamong situations where they can contribute to the efficiencyof the firm. We focus on two such dimensions: the degree ofinvolvement in individual supplier relationships and thenumber of suppliers (Gadde amp。 Gaddeamp。Ha?kansson, 2001).Strategies based on high involvement, on the other hand,are assumed to result in ‘‘cost benefits in terms of reducedcosts in production processes and material flows as well asimproved service levels and flexibility. Furthermore, it ispossible for the customer to take advantage of supplier skillsand capabilities to improve the quality of its own productsand services, which, in turn, has revenue benefits’’ (Gadde amp。 Kraljic, 1983。 Ellram, 1997) suggestdifferentiated purchasing behaviour for different categoriesof products and purchasing situations. Low involvement, orarm’slength relationships, is suggested when the firm’spower or bargaining position permits them to use a pricepressure strategy, while high involvement, and thus somesort of ‘‘partnership,’’ is suggested when interdependence onindividual suppliers cannot be avoided (Dubois amp。 Snehota, 2000). When pursuinga strategy based on low involvement, a number of peting suppliers is necessary in order to achieve the lowestpossible price for each purchase. However, since there arecosts associated with ‘‘playing the market’’ (Hahn, Kim, amp。 Ha?kansson, 2001). However, for most manufacturing firms, thevariety in their purchasing needs implies that the totalnumber of suppliers would remain large even if they concentrated on one supplier per product. In this respect, it is notalways obvious exactly what is to be purchased. This isparticularly problematic because most existing models ofpurchasing are based on specified purchasing needs, whichare thus considered to be ‘‘givens’’.A. Dubois / Industrial Marketing Management 32 (2003) 365–3743673. Cost rationalisation through supplier relationshipsFor most panies, the costs of purchased goods andservices have e to account for the majority of total costs.The primary driving force of this development is the increasing reliance on outsourcing, making efficient purchasingactivities crucial to the financial performance of panies.Therefore, Monczka and Morgan (2000) argue that theremust be an ‘‘a(chǎn)bsolute linkage of sourcing, purchasing, and thesupply chain—to the financial plan’’ and thus to the financialoute of the operations of the firm. The authors concludethat increasing attention to cost