Decideware

Should agencies position with client organizations as expert specialists or expert generalists?

Paul Bennett, Euro RSCG's new Australian head believes "one of the most pressing issues for the communications industry was the lack of expert generalists".

He believes the increasing fragmentation of media has "forced more people into specialist roles".

Further, that "in the northern hemisphere everyone has become an expert specialist but marketing directors need to be expert generalists".

So, he thinks "Marketing Directors are looking for agency partners like them" (i.e. expert generalists) and "that's happening now in Europe and North America."

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald, 20 Mar 2008

Author: Viji Ratnam (Decideware)

What is feedback success???

I was recently researching the "people-centric" aspects of Supplier Relationship Management, especially focusing in on how and why to collect feedback. I found a great definition for success ...

"Creates and/or reinforces focused, sustained behavior change and/or skill development in a sufficient number of individuals so as to result in increased organizational effectiveness."

Here are some tips that were elicited from research performed by the Multisource Feedback Forum. Carol Timmreck and David Braken created 11 guidelines for initiating and sustaining 360 feedback in performance reviews.

How many do you think have direct usage in delivering critical feedback to strategic suppliers and marketing agencies???

11 Tips to get there

1) Make sure the program sponsors within the organization have clear expectations for the process

2) Make sure the program sponsors understand the implications of their process-design decisions

3) Use pilot groups

4) Train both Evaluators (those who fill out feedback) and Owners (those who deliver the reports)

5) Train the managers who will use the data for decisions

6) Communicate progress frequently and thoroughly

7) Hold evaluators responsible for their input

8) Involve evaluators in feedback and action planning

9) Hold Owners accountable for de-briefing suppliers and action planning

10) Implement follow-up processes to ensure compliance

11) Provide adequate resources for coaching, counseling and skill development

Author: Richard Benyon (Decideware)

Reference: Harvard Business School Press, Managing Performance to Maximize Results

(Note, I have taken the liberty of changing some of the terms above to make them more appropriate for the management of suppliers or agencies)

A recent supplymanagement.com survey of 100 buyers revealed "83% in favour of longer-term relationships, while 17% preferred shorter deals".

The respondents believe longer-term contracts deliver benefits to both parties, including:

* price and supply stability

* suppliers better aligned to buyer needs

* buyers better understanding supplier strengths

* opportunities to develop new products, services and systems

* opportunities for suppliers to deliver value-added initiatives leading to greater cost reductions rather than focussing on short-term price reductions

* buyers can incentivise suppliers and share cost reductions

However, respondents recognise that long-term supplier arrangements:

* best suit key suppliers

* need to be maintained and managed properly

* require that performance is properly monitored, managed and leveraged

We concur with the views of the respondents!

While it's sometimes tempting to look to apply high-value assessment techniques and tools to the more transactional segment of the supplier base - because it's the typically the largest segment by number of suppliers, we firmly believe high value assessment tools & techniques are best applied to high-value supplier relationships where the opportunities to extract greater value from relationships (however value is defined) are available. Those opportunities simply often don't exist in transaction relationships and accordingly the investment in seeking to secure greater value is uneconomic.

Source: Supplymanagement.com

17 January 2008 

Author: Derek Groom