Summary We had hoped that the turmoil of the last two years would have driven more collaboration, but the result seems to have been the opposite. The overall score for collaboration is significantly below that reported in 2020 and 2021. To fully understand this, it has been necessary to look at each question and try to understand which aspects of collaboration have changed. Of the most common benefits from increased collaboration, only an improved level of trust has maintained its position compared to 2020 and 2021. The remainder have all declined, with establishing joint goals and objectives dropping the most. The proportion of respondents that have joint plans with more than 50% of their strategic and critical suppliers has dropped from 29% in 2021 to just 20% in 2022. Customer of choice relationships have also suffered, the proportion of respondents reporting being a customer of choice for more than 50% of their critical and strategic suppliers reducing from over 80% in 2021 to just 45% in 2022.
of companies are setting joint goals and objectives with their suppliers compared to 45% in 2020/21. 30% 84% of Leaders believe they are a customer of choice for their critical and strategic suppliers compared to just 45% overall. 56% of leaders have conducted 360 o relationship health checks with more than 50% of their critical and strategic suppliers.
Results of collaboration To understand why the overall score for Collaboration has changed so dramatically, we compared feedback in 2022, with the average responses in 2020 and 2021. Over this period twelve types of collaboration were tracked. Of these, all but one has declined since the averages in 2020/21. The one exception being the level of trust believed to exist in relationships, which has remained the same, whereas all the other areas of collaboration have declined. The most marked reduction is establishing joint goals and objectives. The average proportion of respondents reporting having joint goals and objectives in place with suppliers in 2020/21 was almost half, whereas in 2022, it was under a third. Another significant drop in 2022 is collaboration on improving sustainability. Whereas in 2020/21 we saw 31% of respondents were working with suppliers to improve sustainability, this fell to just 16% in 2022. Joint business plans to drive more value from relationships had been the focus for over 30% but are now in place by just 18% of respondents. A level of engagement also seems to have been a victim of this change, with supplier executive engagement now considered a benefit by 25% of respondents having reached 40% in 2021. This pattern repeats itself in varying degrees across all the remaining benefits of collaboration.
We analysed if this also applies to Leaders where we expect collaboration to be more embedded and less impacted by what has been changing priorities and found that while levels of collaboration remain higher compared to Fast Followers and Followers, there has also been a drop-off. The biggest decline in creating a better understanding of mutuality in the relationship, followed by internal and supplier executive engagement, joint objectives, and innovation. The areas that have stood up best are trust, fewer disputes and escalations and engagement in joint planning.
COLLABORATION “Two heads are better than one”
Collaboration activities 2020/21 compared to 2022 – top five largest variation (all respondents)
Collaboration involves a group of people sharing their ideas and skills to achieve a common goal. We know that working collaboratively, instead of individually, helps improve productivity and provides a sense of purpose to all involved.
2020/21
2022
35% Supplier executive engagement 24% Internal executive engagement 37% 28% Developing shared objectives 50% 29%
Sustainability and ESG
32%
17%
Joint planning
31%
17%
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