A global confectionery and beverage company manages their top 15 ingredients and packaging suppliers using a monthly scorecard of critical process inputs. The assessment focuses primarily on hard data KPIs, plus other objective metrics. The tool gives them the detailed understanding of performance they need to drive cost reductions and improvements in innovation and supply chain performance and simultaneously collate and report data to provide global analyses and comparisons.

A large retailer with a very significant number of suppliers has adopted the tool for their strategic procurement team to manage performance across their business.  It now provides essential data to underpin decisions about SRM governance process and policy. The value of the data grows with each review as they are able to conduct trend analyses.

An insurance company relies on a multi-national IT provider to underpin critical aspects of their business. The relationship has always been strong, but the client needed a tool to more efficiently manage the relationship between the two entities. Members of both teams now regularly engage in a review process and, over time, they have successfully ensured the supplier is working in a cooperative environment which best allows them to perform to the client’s requirements.  

In 2005 we worked with a large retail buying group, with 500+ stores, to convert their paper-based Supplier of the Year program from what was previously a “popularity poll”. Stores, category and operations managers rated the performance of their top suppliers (the 20% doing 80% of their business) on a range of KPIs including delivery, advertising support, service and representation. Suppliers received detailed reports, benchmarked against category top performers and averages and, in conjunction with category managers, formulated action plans on a geographic basis. The next steps are for supplier self-assessment and a two-way review of the retailer’s performance.

A banking client assessed their advertising agency. The initial assessment scored the agency as under-performing and a significant number of issues surfaced. Rather than fire the agency, it was invited to work with the client to resolve issues, change processes and improve their performance. Their response was immediate and committed. Subsequent reviews were more positive and the relationship today is productive and more satisfying for both parties.

A major Australian airline recently completed a relationship “temperature measurement” of their key national business accounts, at three levels: National, State and account. The important dimensions of satisfaction, planning and service were identified and their performance rated by the accounts and airline sales and service people. The resulting action plans will enable the relationship to be strengthened and the needs of the key accounts to be better met.

Following a period of internal turbulence and client dissatisfaction, a leading services firm assessed its relationship with their two most important accounts – with participation from both sides at all levels. The results clearly identified the problems and the engagement of both parties enabled discussion and remedial actions to be undertaken in informed and objective manner.