Examining the effect of production flexibility on the industrial buying process and suggesting a supplementary model

In order to ensure the continuity of competition in national and international markets, businesses should be flexible, preferred by their customers, provide the expected performance, develop long-term relationship and build trust. In addition, the factors affecting the purchasing behavior of industrial products and the industrial purchasing process should be determined well. The aim of the research is to determine whether there is a relationship between production flexibility, supplier selection, performance, long-term relationship and trust. In addition, it will be tried to reveal which of the product mix flexibility, volume flexibility, modification flexibility and expansion flexibility has more impact on the supplier selection process. The main purpose of the research is to investigate whether 'Production Flexibility' has an effect on the functioning of the 'Industrial Purchasing Process' and to contribute to the model by adding 'Production Flexibility' to the 'Industrial Buyer Behavior' model developed by Sheth (1973). The population of the study consists of all micro, small, medium and large enterprises registered to TAYSAD in October 2021. The study data were collected between October 2021 and June 2022 through a questionnaire from 427 manufacturing companies using the full count method. New product flexibility is excluded from the study. In accordance with the objectives, hypotheses and model, the causal research method was adopted and it was aimed to measure seven first-order variables and one second-order variable and the relationships between these variables using primary data. Explanatory factor analysis was performed using SPSS (v18) for the discovery phase, and the measurement models and structural model were evaluated using Smart-PLS (v3) for the validation phase. A statistically significant positive relationship was found between volume flexibility and supplier selection. A highly statistically significant positive relationship was found between mix flexibility and supplier selection, between modification flexibility and supplier selection, and between performance and trust. A very highly statistically significant positive relationship was found between expansion flexibility and supplier selection, between supplier selection and performance, between supplier selection and long-term relationship, and between long-term relationship and trust. It has been empirically shown that production flexibility (mix flexibility, volume flexibility, modification flexibility and expansion flexibility), performance, long-term relationship and trust can contribute to the industrial purchasing process. As a result of the study, it has been empirically shown that the importance of expansion flexibility comes to the fore among the mix flexibility, volume flexibility, modification flexibility and expansion flexibility that affect supplier selection. As a result, it has been seen that production flexibility can be added to Sheth's (1973) industrial buyer behavior model and contributed to the model.