McCormick+Schmitz Handbook for value chain research on - PACA

Figure 14.2 : Expectations of buyers and per<strong>for</strong>mance by producers from the buyer’s
point of view
Variety of Lines/Collections
Innovative design
Improvements in product quality
5
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
Reductions in prices
Faster deliveries
Increasing flexibility
Reliable deliveries
Non-existence of Child Labour
Compliance with global labour standards
Buyers expectations
Producers' Per<strong>for</strong>mance
The results obtained from the producers can then be compared with the results obtained
from asking the same set of ‘mirror’ questions to the buyers and see how their perceptions
differ or coincide. In the diagram above, we can see how contrasting these results may be:
Figure 14.2 suggests that the buyers think that their suppliers are falling short of their
expectations in many of the items considered in the question. That gap of unsatisfied
expectations creates a space <strong>for</strong> other suppliers in other regions/countries to compete <strong>for</strong>
the buyer’s attention and eventually displace the traditional supplier.
There<strong>for</strong>e, this type of diagram can also serve the purpose of assessing if (and how much)
the supplier knows what the buyer expects from him/her. Likewise, this exercise is useful
to highlight aspects that producers need to improve if they want to keep their place (or
even improve it) in the <strong>value</strong> <strong>chain</strong>. This type of comparison can also be used to identify
differences in expectation/per<strong>for</strong>mance between manufacturers and their homeworkers.
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