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What is your approach to supplier innovation? We regard innovation as a vital and integral element of SRM. It is our focal point for this year. We are pretty flexible in our approach. We don’t want to stifle creativity but sometimes no guidance on areas to focus on can mean that you don’t ‘jump start’ the process. Consequently we provide opportunities to both to raise any idea. An example of this will be to visit a store with a supplier and let them review all aspects of its operation. We have examples of where suppliers have come up with ideas that have little or no relationship to their own product or service. On other occasions we will be far more prescriptive about specific problems or challenges. We find that using the pillars is often sufficient structure. If we get a good idea from a supplier and adopt it, it’s rare that we would place any restriction on them using it elsewhere. We believe we have a pretty good track record on being the first to receive good innovation. Our process is open and transparent; we are keen to hear any idea and will actively pursue any great ones that help us to help our business, environment, customers or colleagues, while also delivering a mutual benefit for our supply base in many forms. However, one thing we do need to guard against is the invitation to innovate being used to make a sales pitch. We hope we are building a common under- standing around this and it happens less frequently. We asked Neil what advice he would offer to an organisation starting out on its SRM journey? I would probably want to share a list of dos and don’ts:
What does a case study entail? Each project will differ in terms of complexity and will be run using good project management practice. We will quantify benefits and develop robust business cases when required but the output we are looking for is a one page summary. We find this ‘cuts to the chase’ and is preferred by stakeholders. The case study approach is also valued by our suppliers as a tool for promoting their organisations and the work we are doing. This ‘simplicity’ is also reflected in the way we run SRM. We have seen SRM programmes subverted into tick box exercises to complete templates. We believe the real value of an engagement or governance model is to ensure we are having the right conversations with our suppliers. What aspects of the programme are still a work in progress – what are you doing to move it forward? There are a number of aspects of our programme that we are still working on, some examples include: › A key message of our supplier conference was that we want suppliers to go above and beyond. We want them to look downstream and upstream for improvements, beyond their products for lasting impacts. › Multi supplier, cross functional SRM is more diffi- cult. We are still explaining the SRM angle with single suppliers, but want supplier collaboration. › We are still working to rationalise our engagement model with some suppliers to ensure we make use of existing forums rather than create new ones.
Do
Don’t
BE PERSISTENT SRM is still not widely understood outside the world of procurement KEEP IT SIMPLE The basic concept is just that FOCUS ON BEHAVIOUR CHANGE Relationships are between people
RELY ON DOCUMENTATION Work with the minimum necessary WORK IN SILOS Share information freely BE FIXATED BY ONLY WORKING WITH BIG SUPPLIERS Smaller companies can be a great source of innovation
DEVELOP TRUST Consistency and reliability are key
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