This is part 2 in the series of the series "What happens in Vegas ..." where I highlight some of the key points I picked up on at the eyeforprocurement 2nd Supplier Management Conference at the Flamingo in Las Vegas earlier this month.

Collaborative Practices vs. Collaborative Relationship

We heard an interesting discussion around the buzz word "collaboration".

The audience was challenged to think about whether their relationships with suppliers merely had "collaborative practices", ie processes that simply interfaced with each other.

Or, whether we engineered truly "collaborative relationships" featuring shared goals and joint strategies built in partnership to achieve those goals.

A truly collaborative relationship obviously requires a deeper level of commitment and trust by both parties.

And this lead to an interesting discussion around trust.

• A critical point was made that "The biggest impediment to trust is time"
• A trusting client/supplier relationship requires an investment in time

Accordingly, because time is a precious and costly resource it's best to only build high trust collaborative relationships with a relatively select group of high value, strategic suppliers.

A leading technology organization, by way of example mentioned that they only apply a collaborative approach to 6 key Strategic Suppliers - and the return from investment is substantial.

Author: Richard Benyon (Decideware)