THE BUSINESS REVIEW FOR PROCUREMENT LEADERS
"Super collaboration" is the most advanced form of customer-supplier interaction possible. Unlike combative, co-operative and even partnership types of relationship, it aims to create competitive advantage for both parties over the long term, argue the authors – three professors at the IMD business school in Switzerland.
In the past decade the automotive industry has best illustrated the advantages of “super-supplier” relationships, with Honda and Toyota using them to outpace US rivals. In the 1990s, for example, Honda of America was able to increase its cost advantage by 26 per cent by adopting collaborative relationships based on shared trust, honesty, integrity and an objective focus on results.
Four conditions are required for super collaboration to take off: procurement has to be focused on enhancing competitive advantage; a genuine market opportunity must exist; all functions in both organisations must be committed to making the relationship work; and a strong communication and evaluation structure needs to be in place.
For most companies, super collaboration is outside both their comfort zone and procurement’s remit and competence, which explains why such relationships are still fairly rare in business today.
