In the real world, partners in supply chains typically have widely varying skill, competency, experience, and maturity profiles. That's consultant-speak for "some players are stronger, and some are weaker." In leveraged and progressive supply chains, the stronger partners have responsibilities to lead, mentor, and teach the others how to get better, not only in raw performance but also in risk management and mitigation.
If the grown-up in the room finds that the other organizations in the overall supply chain can't or won't respond to the required leadership, perhaps they aren't the right partners. On the flip side, if the weaker players aren't getting the leadership and instruction they need to grow and eevelop, maybe they're in the wrong supply chain altogether, and need to find new relationships.
It's sad to see the "A" players and the "B" players pointing fingers at one another like 6-year olds in the wake of a problem. The "A" players have got to act like grown-ups, or maybe they're not really "A" players where it counts. Size and naked power alone do not confer grown-up status on a supply chain partner.
This challenge can become mission-critical for ultimate supply chain success in the marketplace when one of the partners is a logistics service provider (LSP, or 3PL). While it is possible that a relatively new 3PL can be manhandled by a big and savvy customer, it is frequently the case that the customer is less-experienced and less-aware than a diversified multi-customer service provider.
That's when the LSP - in a genuine supply chain business relationship - needs to be the grown-up in the room, and lead the customer to success, taking every care to not let the customer slip off the path into a dismal swamp of risk and failure.
Even in this (relatively) new century, someone fueled by an abundance of high-test eggnog will attempt to sing the traditional New Year's Eve hymn Auld Lang Syne at roughly midnight on December 31st. Translated, the phrase means - more or less - days gone by ("old long since").
The advent of a new year is generally a time of introspection and reflection as prelude to setting out objectives and new directions for individuals and organizations. If you're in that mode, business-wise - and I hope you are - here are a few perhaps-relevant questions as you look back on the year gone by:
Reality check: Simply swapping out new relationships for old isn't really a solution all by itself. The real questions are how you are going to identify the right partners, build the right kinds of relationships, and then deliver results out of the new equations.
The crux of the issue? Will the coming year be more of the same auld, same auld? Or, will it be a new way of doing business with new kinds of business relationships?
The "wing and a prayer" phrase dates to World War II, when bombers returning from runs over Germany were frequently missing major components, thanks to deadly anti-aircraft fire. Somehow that seemed appropriate in light of today's combat over business deals designed to make up for declines among existing customers.
Details at any moment depend on which magazine you're reading, but the consensus appears to be that logistics service providers (LSPs, or 3PLs to those still using 20th-century terminology) and software suppliers are scrambling and battling mightily to get new customers and new business. Not, as Jerry Seinfeld might say, that there's anything wrong with that (and certainly not in the current economic climate). So, each month, I can hardly wait to read the reports of who has snagged which new deals.
But I wonder, as the waters roil in a frenzy of competition, how many of those buyers and sellers involved in the deals large enough to warrant some publicity have given much, if any, thought to what happens next. Maybe it's a little like the old tale of riding a tiger.
Keys, to me, seem to be: 1) how to maximize value (as opposed to minimize cost); 2) how to meet mutual expectations (an often-failed aspiration according to all reports); and 3) how to make the marriage last. Those lead to the unavoidable question of what business relationship tactics and techniques are/have been in play, 'cause those keys are only wishes and pipe dreams without organized, consistent, and genuine relationship management programs and practices.
Have you ever found yourself on the front end of an unstrategized - even accidental - relationship arising out of the latest deal? Or, on the back end of one that's gone all pear-shaped to everyone's surprise? Are you standing on the brink of a deal that doesn't have the context of business relatuonship management baked into it? Do you have any reflections related to these situations that you'd be willing to share?