135
*Buy and sell side responses are not linked
If the first step is gaining a mutual understanding of the key success factors for SRM and what each party might value from the relationship, then the next is to actually establish the presence of these attributes in individual relationships. The most common tool to establish a mutual understanding of the key attributes in a rela- tionship is the 360 relationship assessment. Only 18%of the buy side respondents reported having conducted a 360 relationship assessment. By coincidence this is also the same proportion of sell side companies that report their customers using this tool * .
and therefore the corresponding % responses in the this answer are indicative of an overall trend only.
Figure 6.9. Use of 360 relationship assessment tool – buy side / sell side
18% 18%
Joint view of relationship attributes (360 degree assessment)
SELL SIDE BUY SIDE
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
When the buy side responses to the use of the 360 relationship assessment tool are analysed it reveals that its use is almost three times as prevalent with leaders.
Figure 6.10. Use of 360 relationship assessment tool – leaders and followers
45%
FOLLOWERS LEADERS
Joint view of relationship attributes (360 degree assessment)
15%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Strategic and cultural alignment are not easy to achieve, and will depend to a large degree on the relative starting positions of organisations and the gap that might need to be bridged. For this reason, SRM needs to be considered at the very start of the sourcing process ‘category planning’. This is ultimately where segmentation needs to take place. When a category strategy is developed the nature of the supplier relationship required to deliver maximum value needs to be considered. If this is a long term strategic relationship requiring good alignment, collaboration and innovation then those have to be the supplier attributes that are fed in to the sourcing process along with business requirements and specifications. Suppliers that cannot demonstrate the required strategic and cultural fit should be avoided. However, for the most part we are where we are. Therefore, we need to work on existing relationships and make use of the tools that SRM can provide. The 360 degree relationship assessment is clearly one of the tools being underutilised.
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