Best Paper Award at the 2025 Logistics Research Network (LRN) Conference
A research paper, which Christoph Bode co-authored with Prof. Dr. Stephan M. Wagner (ETH Zurich) and Prof. Dr. Moritz A. Peter (Pforzheim University of Applied Sciences), received the Best Paper Award at the Logistics Research Network (LRN) Conference 2025, jointly organized by The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) and the Faculty of Transport and Logistics of Muscat University, Oman.
The award-winning paper, entitled “Influence of Counterparty Dependence on Supplier Contract Acceptance”, examines how suppliers respond to contractual offers extended by buying firms and how these responses are influenced by the degree of interdependence between the parties. Drawing on a unique, large-scale dataset from the automotive industry, the study analyzes 41,036 supply contract offers to 164 suppliers over a four-year period.
The research contributes to the literature by linking interfirm power dynamics to supplier behavior in contract negotiations, offering important theoretical and practical insights into contract acceptance mechanisms in buyer–supplier relationships.