By the end of this course, delegates will be able to:

• Highlight factors which are critical to the success of achieving excellent performance through suppliers
• Show how the present current economic climate can be used to lock in a long term advantage
• Significantly improve the performance of suppliers in key areas such as quality, delivery, lead times, innovation and responsiveness
• Provide tools, methodologies and approaches to working with suppliers on performance improvement and joint cost reduction programs
• Share a number of approaches which have been found to be effective in aligning supplier performance with the needs of customers
• Explain and explore a framework for building effective working relationships with colleagues and with contract staff, suppliers and others
• Describe the ways in which supplier management can be used to provide competitive advantage

The root cause of failure

• A leading consultancy survey of supplier performance
• Root cause analysis of failure
• Remedies and key lessons

Approaches for finding the best supplier

• The criterion based approach
• The "prospectus" tool
• Fool-proofing supplier selection

Best practice processes, tools and techniques

• Parallels between managing your own organization and managing suppliers
• Innovative ideas that are rooted in common sense
• Disciplines, tools and methodologies which guarantee success

How world class organizations manage their suppliers

• Managing the "extended enterprise"
• Leading examples from manufacturing, financial services and the public sector
• A case study for course participants to analyze

Practical approaches to creating leverage

• The four pillars on which supplier management should be based
• Alternative forms of power
• Supplementing contractual leverage

Working without leverage

• Using relationships as a power substitute
• Basing a relationship on something other than a contract
• Rights, remedies and substitutes for leverage

Directors, managers and staff who are responsible for managing suppliers. This will include:

• Staff in procurement, operations and finance
• Those responsible for managing external service providers in areas such as logistics, IT, facilities management and distribution
• Managers and staff who are responsible for suppliers who provide outsourced services