Supplier Flexibility Scale

What it measures

Measures the degree to which a supplier is willing and able to accommodate a customer firm's changing needs, including adjusting inventories, relaxing policies, and granting exceptions to meet customer requests. Higher scores indicate greater supplier flexibility. Used as a predictor of customer acquisition and operations costs.

Response format

Likert

Scale items

• This supplier is flexible enough to handle unforeseen problems.
• This supplier handles changes well.
• This supplier can readily adjust its inventories to meet changes in our needs.
• This supplier is flexible in response to requests we make.

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

CR = .88, AVE = .55. Adapted from Noordewier, John, and Nevin (1990). 5-point strongly agree–strongly disagree scale. Validated on combined US and German manufacturing sample (n=478). Metric equivalence confirmed across English and German language versions via multi-group CFA.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Cannon, J.P. & Homburg, C. (2001). Buyer–supplier relationships and customer firm costs. Journal of Marketing, 65(1), 29–43.

Keywords