The larger a corporation, the more likely it is to depreciate its suppliers and distributors. The culture of inorganic growth has also fostered a value to own every entity of any worth. Tight credit conditions could force companies to collaborate without dominating each other’s boardrooms. However, the best companies will always excel at associate relationships during phases of rapid growth. This could prove to be the least crowded route to business expansion as markets pull out of the 2008 trough.
Supply and logistic chains have all the resources of corporations they serve. Cooperation with a competitor may be a contradiction in terms, but companies that synergize rather than replicate strengths of peers with which they do business will gain first in every upswing.
Losses of know-how and control are management phobias that prevent corporations from leveraging supply and distribution chains better. Lack of trust is always a hurdle in addressing market opportunities most effectively. That is not to say that a management team should be naïve, but to suggest that growth will be easier if transparent systems are built for collaboration beyond company and employee confines.
Participation, benefit-sharing, and a project approach are three dimensions along which ambitious companies can get suppliers and distributors firmly on their sides. Planning, if isolated and inward-looking, will tempt business associates to look askance. No supplier or distributor will shed loyalty to a company, provided that mutuality prevails in distributing the benefits of business development. Finally, vague statements or even promises help no one: suppliers and distributors should be awarded specific time-bound tasks that will lead to excellent and complete execution of key strategies for accelerated growth.
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