Study on manufacturer–dealer relationships for strategic alignment

Purpose Dealers positioned at the downstream of the supply chains are those who can directly influence demand scenario for the manufacturer. However, manufacturer has to ensure that the influence is favorable by competitively fulfilling the anticipations of the dealers. In this regard, the purpose of this paper is focused on developing sustainable strategic relationships between manufacturer and dealer. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, the basic requirements of the dealers expected to be fulfilled by a manufacturer are analyzed by applying fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process and fuzzy Quality Function Deployment. The said approach is implemented in a case situation of a paint manufacturing company in India, and the results are analyzed to provide directions for the company to strategically align manufacturer–dealer relationships. Findings It was found that the case company has to focus mainly on promotions and advertisements, painters meet, and recognition offered to the dealers. Although pricing was also considered as one of the prominent aspects yet through competitive assessment the case company was found to be better off compared to its competitors. Research limitations/implications As the results obtained in the current study are specific to a manufacturing environment, they cannot be generalized for all the companies. However, similar approach can be adopted for analyzing the customer requirements in order to achieve dealers’ attractiveness and satisfaction. Originality/value The application of proposed approach assists a manufacturer to pursue right strategy to practice for achieving dealer attractiveness and satisfaction. This will definitely help the supply chain managers to have the right requirements of the dealers’ are fulfilled on priority.