From Vendor to Partner

Despite the emergence of supplier relationship management, many types of barriers prevent companies from transforming traditional purchasing relationships with key suppliers into powerful collaborations that can produce substantial value for both parties. The secret of collaborative customer-supplier relationships is not only what the parties do together but also what they believe about each other and how they interact.

Using recent survey data, the author discusses the behaviors, perceptions, and practices that inhibit vendor-customer collaboration; examines several successful partnerships involving leading companies; examines what constitutes a “good” business-to-business relationship; and recommends steps companies can take to begin to transform their key supplier relationships into real partnerships.

For more on this topic, visit our Sourcing and Supply Management page.