In the age of outsourcing, flexibility becomes a watchword for competitiveness. OEMs operating in a build-to-order environment face considerable external fluctuations that they pass down their supply chains. Consequently, lower-tier suppliers who contribute to a manufacturer's efficiency and success face a difficult situation. This study explores the supplier's viewpoint. Its focus is on the premise that being highly flexible is not always in the supplier's interest: a supplier must know when to refuse certain relational demands imposed on him by all-powerful buyers and know when to become a dissident. Therefore, the goal of this paper is to propose a conceptual model identifying the sources of supplier dissidence with regard to customer's requirements for increased levels of flexibility.
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