Strategic Supply Chain Management - Supply Chain Online

CHAPTER 4 Core Discipline 4: Build the Right Collaborative Model 153
This means deciding on a segmentation approach. No doubt you have
a list of customers, suppliers, or commodities that you consider “key” or
“strategic.” But what factors cause you to label them as such Size of company
Price of materials or services Their dependence on you—or you
on them—as a buyer or supplier Their value to you in terms of revenue
generation
Segmenting supply chain partners is critical to effective collaboration.
No matter how much or how little value they contribute to your company,
all potential partners have an appropriate place along the
collaboration spectrum. Basing your decision of whom to collaborate with
on a simple ranking of who your most valuable suppliers, service
providers, and customers are is inherently risky. 5
A better approach is to consider several partner-selection criteria
weighted according to your specific needs:
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Strategic importance. How essential are the potential partner’s
size, business volume, technology, expertise, materials/
components, or market position
Cultural fit. How compatible are your people and values, and
how well will you work together Are you equally committed to
the relationship, even though business conditions may change
Is there mutual trust
Organizational fit. Can the partner respond quickly and fully to
requests for information and materials Is the partner flexible
enough to adapt to changes in demand or supply Are the roles and
responsibilities in place for managing a long-term relationship
Technology fit. Are your systems compatible and easily integrated
Do you have the same degree of technical sophistication
Are you equally willing to share technologies and innovative
solutions Can your partner provide accessible, integrated data
Choosing partners is made much more complex by the need to assess
the selection criteria along two dimensions: the category of relationship
(customer, material supplier, or service supplier) and collaboration type
(transactional, cooperative, coordinated, or synchronized).
The best approach is to create an assessment framework before
approaching any partners. Start by listing the conditions that a partner
must meet to be considered for each collaboration type. To make sure that
you’re being objective, develop criteria that are clear and unambiguous.
Know how many partners of each type you want to have, based on the
needs of your business or previous experience with collaboration. Then