Integration is one of the important concepts in supply chain management. Both in theoretical and empirical contributions, it is shown that integrative practices improve supply chain performance. By analyzing 9 case studies of customer-supplier relationships in the Italian high precision air conditioning industry, this paper investigates what suppliers and customers do in order to integrate their operations across the supply chain. It articulates customer-supplier integration (CSI) practices into three specific business processes – new product development, logistics, and pricing – and the more general customer-supplier knowledge transfer. It also proposes a framework for classifying customer-supplier integration forms contingent on the value impact of goods purchased from each supplier and on the degree of purchasing goods customization.
