Developing effective customer‐supplier relationships: more than one way to skin a cat

The paper uses data from a questionnaire survey of UK firms to examine the ways in which benefits and costs are divided in buyer‐supplier relationships. These results are analysed in the light of Burnes and New′s framework for considering supply chain improvement. The results indicate that some caution is required in the applicability of the notion of “win‐win” in buyer‐supplier collaborations. Conclusions are drawn for theory and practice.