The supply chains of today are becoming increasingly integrated and complex, and a major contributory factor to a supply chain’s success rests on supplier collaboration. Suppliers today, are being viewed as strategic partners, who can help you leverage competitive advantage.

Hence as a sourcing/procurement manager, here are a few things that you should know about changing trends in supplier collaboration:

The Need for Supplier Collaboration: With the exponential increase in business pace, it is important that organization must be able to respond to the market demands in an agile and innovative manner. Hence, suppliers have ceased to be just providers but can also help in the creation of products that make a competitive difference.

Collective Power of Supplier Relationships: Supplier collaboration holds within it the balance between demand and supply by making the right materials available at the right time. A great example of mass-collaboration is the Apple Store, which makes the iPhone stand apart because of its apps.

Harnessing Various Collaboration Models: Supplier collaborations do not just extend to the providing of component/service. They can assist you in cost optimization, co-design, or even provisioning of an end-to-end solution. The various forms of collaboration can help an organization grow by order of magnitude, and be established as a market leader.

Simplification of Operations: Suppliers have a better understanding of sourcing categories and can help you not only realize the full potential of supplier investment via consistent high-quality product but can also help you, in balancing risk and cost optimization. Hence, it is important to understand the market category, suppliers’ capabilities and shifting market dynamics that can help you greatly in simplifying/streamlining operations.

The Benefits of Co-Marketing: Collaborating with Suppliers to raise collective brand profile via co-marketing is a win-win situation. One can look at the co-marketing approach of Intel with the tech brands it supplies to, giving out a message of product reliability and real-value, as a prime example of the strategy.

The benefits of supplier partnerships lie in collaboration and how it transforms the business and operations of an organization. What do you think about the merits of Supplier Collaboration? Let us know in the comments section below.