upply Chain Management and Customer and Supplier Relations in Santa Catarina´s Travel Agencies

Abstract

This article identifies and analyzes the management of the supply chain and customer and supplier relations in travel agencies, in the search for ways of adding competitive advantages to their services, which are so important in organizations seeking to become consolidated with their actual and potential clients. The proposed study uses analysis of quantitative and qualitative data, as the relations between the variables – management of the supply and services chain, adopted by the travel agencies and their relations with suppliers and clients – were analyzed and quantified in order offer comments and discusses the situation with those involved. Multivariate cluster analysis was used to understand the agencies’ context, and the complexity of the relations that coexist between travel and tourism agencies and the participants of the chain. The target population of this research was composed of all agencies affiliated to the Brazilian Association of Travel Agencies - ABAV sectional Santa Catarina. The sample population identification was considered intentional, involving 60 agencies Travel and Tourism working in emissive and receptive tourism, characteristics of service required for this search. The results are as follows: the relations between travel agencies, their clients and suppliers, are superficial, being restricted to purely commercial aspects of the transaction, which creates a barrier to a more personalized relationship that would help do away with traditional management model, imposed by current suppliers.