TRUST AND SUPPLY CHAIN RELATIONSHIPS: A SOUTH AFRICAN CASE STUDY

Abstract

Modern competitiveness theory emphasises the role of strategic alliances between different actors in the supply chain. However, in order to be successful, these alliances have to be trust-based, where trust refers to institution-based, characteristic-based and process-based relationships. In this paper, as case study of a skategic relationship between an industrial conglomerate and a group of resource-poor irrigation farmers in South Africa is described in order to explore the nature of these various trust-based relationships.