The Devil's Advocate

89

Treat suppliers like fellow combatants

When tough times hit, it’s natural to want to pass on the pain to your suppliers. You’ll want to squeeze them until the pips squeak in pursuit of a good price.

But this can do more harm than good.

Your suppliers can become one of the best ways to get yourself out of a tight corner. As Darrell Rigby of consultants Bain and Co. points out, smart companies ‘treat their suppliers as fellow combatants trapped in the same foxhole’.

Rigby cited the example of Chrysler. In the teeth of the 1990 recession, the car giant had to realise significant savings. But rather than simply offload the pain onto their suppliers, Chrysler embraced them. They outsourced more of their operations to suppliers, which helped ...