Supplier Enablement - co-prosperity
I saw this sound-bite recently:Understanding and agreeing on each other's expectations for the relationship usually leads to mutual gains or "co-prosperity," a term Scott Singer, director of global general procurement at United Technologies Corporation, says he's hearing more of recently in his meetings with suppliers.
So, who exactly is introducing the idea of co-prosperity? Buyer? Supplier?
Co-prosperity and eProcurement.
Do buyers consider what the mutual gains are for suppliers when building the business case to invest in eProcurement?
Should suppliers be pro-active and seek a discussion with buyers that are implementing eProcurement to discover and agree on the mutual gains?
Is it possible to put a valuation on the mutual gain and separate the specific gain to buyer and supplier?
Would a buyer be prepared to agree a 'gain share' with suppliers along the lines of: if you agree to ...... and we acknowledge there is a gain to us then we will agree to .......
Just Do It
Some buyers are making eCommerce a condition of business forcing suppliers to accept fait accompli their customers' preferred way to conduct their business with suppliers. Is this co-prosperity?
Some buyers require their suppliers to meet the cost of participating in their eProcurement programme. Is this co-prosperity?
Let's talk
With the assumption that change and progress are inevitable then any reasonable person will sit down and discuss these matters.
We (buyer) are investing £500,000 to implement eProcurement in our business; our reasons are ...... and our expectations are..... We expect our suppliers should benefit and have identified these opportunities. Is this co-prosperity?
We (buyer) are investing £x to assist our suppliers to participate in our eProcurement programme for the following reasons....... Over time we expect that your (supplier) business will benefit and in 12 months we would like to conduct a review with you to learn from you how you benefitted. Is this co-prosperity?
Of course, you are not obliged to do anything and you can exercise your choice to 'opt in' or 'opt out'. The only thing we ask is that you make your choice now. Is this co-prosperity?
Is this nonsense?
Yes. In the big bad world of business only the strongest and fittest survive and they aggressively adopt change and the weak and timid who avoid change will fail even if we try and help them. Co-prosperity - nice idea - but our shareholders/stakeholders have expectations and we need to deliver results.
No. In a world that is increasingly turning to low cost country sourcing, outsourcing, offshore delivery, use of contracted-out labour, suppliers working in-house then we are already set on a course that means our performance is intrinsically bound to our suppliers' perfomance. Co-prosperity - good idea - essential to delivering results and meeting expectations of our shareholders/stakeholders.
Is it a Yes or No for you?
Labels: co-prosperity, eprocurement, supplier portal
posted by FrankB @ Friday, February 23, 2007
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