Book review: The Supply-Based Advantage

Do you have supplier problems? You should read “The Supply-Based Advantage: How to Link Suppliers to Your Organizations Corporate Strategy” by Stephen C. Rogers. It’s published by the American Management Association.Rogers is a senior consultant with the Cincinnati Consulting Consortium, concentrating on purchasing and supplier management, and an adjunct professor at Xavier University. But in his past life he spent 30 years at Proctor & Gamble, where he had sourcing roles in every major business unit, and, as the “father” of strategic sourcing at P&G, participated in the development and expansion of Proctor & Gamble’s global sourcing efforts and the redesign of the Folgers Coffee supply chain. He served on the American Management Association’s Supply Chain Council for the past 10 years.

In the book, Rogers addresses supplier relationships, saying, “If you perceive your suppliers as merely providers from whom you must extract optimum cost savings, they will likely view you in kind. To make the most of your relationships and more crucially, to develop significant competitive advantage over those organization that don’t-you must place the same care into your supplier-facing activities that you do into your customer relationships. Only then will you build the shared successes that will lead to long-term partnerships based on mutual, not separate goals.”

Being in this field for years, I have seen the changes in supplier relationships. I have sat in meetings where the director of purchasing demanded concessions from the supplier,
stating if you want to do business with us, this is the way it is. I have seen the pounding on the table and the jumping out of chairs for the director to make a point. Suppliers actually dreaded meeting with management. How much better it is to work with a supplier?

Each chapter in Rogers’ book contains a highlighted insert which summarizes the chapter and a great quote. Chapter 1, for example, start off with this gem from Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric: “If you don’t have a competitive advantage, don’t compete”

All through the book are highlighted sections called “Practitioner’s Take” by Rogers. With 30 years of experience just with Proctor & Gamble, Rogers offers a lot of examples in the business world and with the history gives us the opportunity to see the changes in our profession. We don’t do things the same way we did 30 years ago. Our profession has changed for the better. Suppliers actually like us and work with us. We now use supplier relationships to support competitive advantage.