With regard to the expectations of the buying firm in
JIT purchasing, there is a convergence towards the
ultimate goal of eliminating waste at all levels. One
example is the time lost by a buying firm in coordinating
the purchasing process in a multi-supplier environment.
In JIT purchasing, this time should be spent more
efficiently on controlling pervasiveness effects, finding
ways of rapidly eliminating disruption effects, and
working to obtain from the remaining suppliers a level
of performance that will compensate for the low degree
of substitutability. If a buying firm wants to implement
JIT purchasing, and if a benefit or a consequence is the
reduction in the number of its suppliers, few possibilities
remain for the establishment of a concurrency relationship
strategy. Thus a partnership strategy will encourage
suppliers to reach a high level of performance without
leaving the bitter impression that they are being forced
into JIT and that their efforts are worthless.