Traditionally, the purpose of supplier management was to ensure outsourcing outcomes matched the intent of the contract. Now, as companies seek to drive value from their strategic supplier relationships, a broader range of activities are involved in supplier relationship management (SRM), including risk, performance, and governance.

Supplier managers today are responsible for key objectives, such as driving innovation from their large outsourcing providers, ensuring the right mitigation plans are in place, and guaranteeing performance is at par. Misses can be high visibility and must be managed effectively.

Questions our experts answered:

• What are the best supplier relationship management approaches across vendor stratification, governance, tools/technology usage, performance management, risk management, and supplier-driven innovation?
• What challenges are peers facing, and how do they overcome them?
• How can organizations build guiding principles and frameworks across supplier stratification and governance?
• What are common performance management and score carding approaches?