Which Comes First? The Supplier or the Customer?

If you haven't noticed yet, I'm that person who likes to ask a lot of questions. Not because I am 100% clueless, but because I want to understand things a little better. That stated, I really want to understand how influential a supplier is to your business. What do I mean? Well, I often hear about agents "taking a stand" against those suppliers who do not support their business, be it commission cuts, policy change, or lack of BDM/DSM support, etc. And what is the most common response from agents when faced with this scenario? "I'll move share away from Supplier X and to Supplier Y." Is it really that easy? If you don't move their product well to begin with, I can see how it could be. But if you move a lot of their product or worse, the customer demands that product, I would imagine it would be a tough strategy to stick by because perhaps you are so entrenched in their business that your business would suffer as a result.

I understand that there are several variables to consider with this strategy and I want to hear (read) them, so I encourage you to post a comment.

Chris