TABLE OF CONTENTS Let's face it, not all of our trading partners are very collaborative. As we have said before, in many cases their definition of collaboration is: "I win; you figure out how to win." We have also seen trading partners, especially our customers, that do not even want to attempt to collaborate with a supplier as they look at everything as your problem and only focus on their own world. These closed-minded companies fail to look at the bigger picture of supply chain costs and inefficiencies and the impact on you rather than them. They fail to realize that the cost of goods sold often gets transferred right back to them in the long run. The companies just described are good examples of companies that you may not want to engage in a supply chain collaboration program. One industry analyst described this as "you can't teach a pig to sing."
You must pick your collaborative trading partners wisely and ensure that you minimize your risks of failure. Some keys points to remember about picking collaborative trading partners are:
Pick a strategic partner, one that is important to you and your company. One rule of thumb is to collaborate by the 80/20 rule. Collaborate with the 20 percent of your trading partners with which you do 80 percent of your business.
Pick a trading partner that has already executed successful supply chain collaboration programs. If the trading partner has already done collaboration before and is committed to taking on...
