The influence of costs, quality and on-time delivery on South African automotive component suppliers' customer relationship

Abstract

The South African Automotive industry contributes 7% of the country’s GDP. It is part of the global automotive industry as most of the local original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are linked to or owned by global manufacturers. The South African automotive component suppliers are also part of this international automotive market by virtue of supplying components to these automotive OEMs. The purpose of the study is to investigate the influence of costs, quality and on-time delivery on South African automotive component suppliers’ customer relationship. Qualitative research (semi-structured interviews) was used to conduct the research. In this study, the findings indicate that costs, quality and on-time delivery have an influence on South African automotive component suppliers’ customer relationship. The study concludes by highlighting the importance of competitive priorities such as costs, quality and on-time delivery in mediating relationship between South African automotive component suppliers and their customers or original equipment manufacturers