The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS) released its I-Relate study into supply chain relationships across 500 procurement professionals.
According to CIPS chief executive Simon Sperryn: "Collaborative relationships with suppliers are key to holding onto competitive advantage in a declining global market.
"Organisations in pursuit of innovation and sustainable supply chains are being forced to rethink their buyer-supplier relationship model," he added.
The research found that price, quality and delivery remained the three most important factors in buying decisions. Quality and delivery became increasingly important as relationships become more complex, while price remained consistently important.
Factors such as "likeability of salesperson" and geographic proximity were low priorities for buyers.
CIPS representation manager Emma Brooks told printweek.com that while it was a buyer's market, "organisations are finding that if you squeeze suppliers, you'll turn around in a few months and they won't be there".
Brooks recommended more transparent supply chains, similar to Sainsbury's online system through which suppliers could request early payments.
Meanwhile, the International Print Purchasing Standards Association (IPPSA) said buyers with CSR programmes should procure print ethically, as it launched its Openbook website to "bring together different sides of the industry".
IPPSA founder Andrew Bartlett said: "Up until now, print buyers have left it up to printers to ensure their survival. The dynamic has changed. Print buyers want their suppliers to be sustainable."
Bartlett added that print managers offered little transparency and said big companies shouldn't "hide behind middlemen that treat printers unethically".
IPPSA wants to bring together printers and print buyers to set "a minimum gross profit" through its Fair Trade initiative.
Fair treatment of suppliers is key to surviving recession, CIPS claims
Two procurement industry bodies have stressed that ethical and sustainable buyer-supplier relationships are key to healthy supply chains in the recession.
