 Although much more rare than supplier convergence, supplier deconvergence occurs when a company offering several services or products breaks into a number of smaller companies specializing in a specific service or product (InterTradeIreland 2002).This may occur as part of a restructuring process for companies, or may be a strategic decision to associate different companies with specific services or products.As noted in the definition above, supplier convergence is not to be confused with product convergence, which occurs when two or more different products "evolve […] over time to the point where they overlap and address the same customer need" (Slywotzky et al.