The Influence of Changes in Customer´s Technology Portfolio on Supplier´s Organization

This research paper studies the influence of the changes in customer´s technology portfolio on supplier´s organization in the context of the customer´s merger with another company. By using Fuzzy Cognitive Maps and taking into account the perceptions of 23 members of the supplier organization, by drawing and analyzing the causality of 63 factors involved in the change situation, it provides an indication about the most important aspects which had to be considered by supplier´s management for minimizing the negative impact of the changes occurring on the customer´s side. A qualitative simulation of the supplier system is done in order to verify its evolution under different scenarios. Besides the theoretical aspects related to Fuzzy Cognitive Maps the paper provides recommendations for managing similar situations.