Supply Excellence — Is Supplier Collaboration a Sham?

Is Supplier Collaboration a Sham?

October 3rd, 2006 · by Tim Minahan · No Comments · supplier management

Nearly a decade ago, I authored an article at Purchasing Magazine that asked the question: Is Partnering a Sham? The article pointed out that, despite the tangible benefits and success stories of partnerships, “…some suppliers argue that buyer-supplier alliances–as partnerships are sometimes known–are simply a way for manufacturers to dump more responsibility and cost onto the supply base. Others grouse that buyers are using the partnering concept as an excuse to axe suppliers.”

At the Empower 2006 Conference, IACCM President and CEO Tim Cummins posed the same question about the over-used term, collaboration. During his keynote presentation on Contract Management Excellence, Tim tried to strike a balance between effectively collaborating with suppliers for joint competitive advantage and effective negotiations.

The conversation spurred so much commentary that the IACCM has paired up with Vantage Partners, a negotiations and relationship management think tank, to study the issue in further detail. I encourage Supply Excellence readers to participate by answering a short survey here.

Findings we only be used in aggregate for an upcoming IACCM-Vantage Partners report on the enablers and deterrents of customer-supplier collaboration. The report will examine:

Buyer and supplier priorities for collaboration
Value creation opportunities
Enablers of value creation
Barriers to creating value
Notable trends and patterns, segmented by industry, company size, geography, and other key variables.

I will report on the highlights of this study when they become available later this fall. However, if I were a betting man, I’d put down money that the findings will be similar to those in my article nearly a decade ago. Buyer-supplier collaboration has been the elusive brass ring in supply management circles for decades. And the challenges of collaboration were summed up best in a quote in that article from then-President and former supply management chief of Chrysler Corporation, Tom Stallkamp:

“Suppliers often confuse that being in a partnership means the relationship is not measured. On the contrary, we must constantly measure progress toward expressed and defined goals. Even good performance toward goals can be superseded by competition doing even better.”

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