Resource alignment in the category management of builders’ merchants

Abstract

Previous retailer–supplier research reports both positive and negative collaboration outcomes. Resource alignment, or how collaborating actors’ resources affect each other, is a concept that has been brought forward to explain when collaboration increases performance. As the category management of builders’ merchants (BMs) involves actors with different sets of resources, the resource alignment framework can be used to better understand the outcomes of collaboration in category management. The aim of this paper is to explore resource alignment among actors involved in the category management of BMs. The paper is based on interviews with top managers in Swedish BMs. Complementary and supplementary resources held by the involved actors are identified for four distinguished category management activities. Resources needed to further improve the business are also identified. Three propositions are formulated, explaining how supplementary and complementary resources are interrelated and how the situation influences the need for supplementary resources. The description of resource alignment supports retailers and their suppliers concerning how to assign roles and responsibilities in category management activities. While the retailers themselves are often well equipped to manage pricing and inventory management, the supplier can support assortment and marketing management.

Keywords:

• resource alignment
• retailer–supplier collaboration
• category management
• builders’ merchants