Question

BQ(11). “Some procurement and supply managers mention that: We can’t be spending money on supplier development—we’re not in business to train suppliers and do their job for them!”

BQ(11.a). What type of barrier does this statement represent?

BQ(11.b). How would you respond to such a statement?

Answer 1

Answer (11.a)

This statement is the perfect example of a buyer-specific barrier in supplier development. These are the barriers in supplier development from the buyer side where the buyer firm's management is not supportive of the supplier development process. This barrier is also called a Lack of buyer's management support in supplier development. In this barrier, the buyer firm is assuming the money spending on supplier's development is a waste and is not very useful in their business.

Answer (11.b)

Supplier development for any industry is very important to have the best supplier for their manufacturing process. There are so many advantages of supplier development that are as below:

• Production improvement.
• Cost reduction.
• On-time delivery.
• Improvement in quality.
• Cycle-time improvement.
• Reduction in defective production.
• Buyer-supplier long-term relationship.
• Competitive advantage.

So as we can see that there are various advantages of having the best supplier development program as we know that it is very difficult to find the best supplier for long-term procurement. Companies and procurement managers should invest in supplier development. The managers should be aware that the suppliers are not only vendors but they are the part of the ecosystem. They should make sure that supplier feel that they are the part of buyer's business. There should be a strong relationship between buyer and supplier.