[...] consequently, the outcomes of negotiations will be the physical manifestations [...] of the
relationship between companies in supply chains, and thus ought to be of particular interest
to researchers seeking to understand the “reality” of supply chain relationships, [...]
and suggests that for the exploration of the negotiations that:
Researchers who are repelled by the restrictions of the hypothetico-deductive method and
prefer something closer to the grounded theory or ethnomethodological approaches, might
like to submerge themselves in the phenomenon and tackle questions like: “Do buyers and
suppliers negotiate?” Or: “What happens when buyers and suppliers negotiate?”
More specifically, one of the earlier and only contributions to SCM concerning
negotiations emphasised that:
[...] cconsideration should be given to assessing the elements of the negotiation process and
their application by [negotiators] in various situations. [...] future research must attempt to
study negotiation activities through pairing [buyer-supplier] dyads. This type of analysis can
help negotiators to understand the complexity of the negotiation environment and can
contribute to the understanding of strategy development under specific organizational [...]
constraints (Rinehart, 1989).