Impact of sanctions on buyer-supplier relationships: A commentary of a study about the Libyan oil industry

Buyer-supplier relationships have received increasing research attention in the last two decades. Empirical evidence shows that relationship quality can be examined by considering a number of relationship factors. Literature also shows that there are time-based features of relationship quality. Reviewed literature pinpoints a number of research gaps in this dyadic relationship context, one of which is the time-based feature context. Among others, empirical research gaps in this domain also include the geographical context. Combining the geographical and time-based context research gaps, a pilot study explored buyer-supplier relationships between Libyan buyers and foreign suppliers over time (Tantoush et al., 2009). The Libyan economy and in particular the Libyan oil industry was adversely affected by the imposition of sanctions by the US and the UN from 1986 to 2003. Libya's refining sector was hardest hit by UN Resolution 883 of 11 November 1993, banning Libya from importing refinery equipment. At the time, Libya was seeking a comprehensive upgrade to its entire refining system, with a particular aim of increasing output of gasoline and other light products (e.g. jet fuel). The pilot study shapes the needs for further investigation in this area, and a proper research framework is needed in order to collect empirical data accordingly. This chapter aims to provide a commentary of the pilot study, and then guidelines for further research. More importantly, the reflections from this pilot study will be shared. The chapter will first briefly summarise the key findings of the pilot study. It will then present the implications and the recommendations for further study. After that, the benefits for conducting this pilot will be investigated.