Supplier Relationship Management

Supplier relationship management is an approach to managing organizations interactions with the supplier of the goods and services it uses. The main goal of supplier relation management is to streamline and make more effective the processes between an organization and its suppliers. In order for this type of relationship to work and benefit both parties, the organization and its suppliers must have the same desired outcomes. Both parties must be willing to compromise, share information such as pricing, new product developments, and as well, be able to communicate openly and honestly with one another and the cross-functional teams. Whirlpool Corporation and Inland Steel Industries demonstrate these qualities, thus the reason for their great success in their respective industries.
It has been said that “It can take years for a buyer/seller partnership to begin delivering results”. Each party much fully understand the intentions, goals, and expected outcomes of the partnership and must work together to achieve these requirements. Each party has to ensure that their respective employees are on board with the projects at hand, as well as having an understanding of the goals, objectives and outcomes. This does not happen overnight. It takes a long time to build trust within a company let alone with two companies working together. Information must be gathered and analysis performed to ensure that targets can be met. Teams must be built and tasks assigned. Each company involved must carefully chose the right employee to lead the teams and to make sure that the team leaders will work together with the other company’s team. As seen in the case, Whirlpool Corporation realized it needed to reduce its suppler base and achieve a more competitive advantage by forming an alliance with few key suppliers. Top executives at Whirlpool Corporation discussed their organizations top initiatives and then chose a partner that they thought would help them obtain the benefits, and who would