Supplier guanxi management
February 3rd, 2009 by AdministratorOver on his “Go Go Go! Supply Chain” blog, Jim Tompkins of Tompkins Associates writes about building strong relationships as the key to successful supplier relationship management, especially in China, which Tompkins calls “North America’s preferred overseas destination for low-cost sourcing.”
He writes:
[T]he most significant part of Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) — the actual Relationship — has either not been fully developed or has been insufficiently nourished in order to thrive. SRM goes to the heart of successful Supply Chain Partnerships, and in China, Guanxi is at the heart of any business, government or personal relationship.
…With suppliers, Guanxi is a general and deep type of understanding between two entities in which both are aware of the other’s needs and always take them into account. It’s an ongoing process and often flows on a more personal level than Westerners would consider a typical business relationship.
Read the full post here.
For more on guanxi, watch this 3:30 video put together by the creators of “On the Frontlines: Doing Business in China,” a DVD series Technomic Asia has helped produce. For more info on that, see here.
