Working in a spirit of partnership means embracing the idea that
both parties will grow their businesses together . It creates an
atmosphere of goodwill that makes it much easier to adopt the
flexibility that is becoming ever more critical to business success . It
makes it easier , for instance , to vary a contract whether in response
to changing market conditions or the wish to innovate .
Creating this sort of partnership approach takes leadership . SRM is
not something that can be parcelled up , handed to the procurement
department and then ignored by everyone else . It must be
embedded in the culture and values of the company . As it is the
senior team that shapes that culture , it must be the senior team that
leads the way on promoting SRM . If there are internal barriers
preventing this , it is the senior team that should constructively break
them down .
Any chief executives that are struggling to grasp why they should do
this , or exactly what value SRM brings to their business , should take
responsibility for doing whatever is needed to gain that
understanding . In my experience the main reason why SRM is not
given the C - suite attention it deserves is that time - constrained
senior executives fear getting into the detail of supplier
arrangements . This is easily overcome thanks to technology that
now makes it much more straightforward for senior executives to
access supplier information in a succinct and relevant way .
With this information , supported by strong and genuine supplier
partnerships , business leaders will be able to position themselves
and their companies to grasp the multitude of opportunities that
the innovation revolution is bringing with it .
Without it , they should prepare to see their company struggle to
thrive , or even to survive .
Iain Rawlinson is the managing partner at Rawlinson Partners
Limited and chairman or director of a number of organisations . He
was executive chairman of The Monarch Group from 2009 to 2014 .
Powered by FlippingBook