“…For most of the first two decades of scholarship, such studies focused almost exclusively on costs associated with activities such as inventory management, delivery, quality, service, price, and communications (i.e., Ellram & Siferd, ). However, more recently, the research has begun to take an increasingly holistic view of the supplier selection process , by focusing more on social issues such as supplier management strategy, relationship dynamics, and their performance impacts (e.g., Defee, Stank, Esper, & Mentzer, ; Ghodsypour & O'Brien, ; Kannan & Tan, ; Wisner, ). Despite multiple studies spanning various topical threads, investigations of supplier selection criteria remain highly relevant.…”