Category Archives: SRM

Taxing times for relationship managers

Posted on April 28, 2013 by David Atkinson

Yesterday, as usual, I woke up to the sound of BBC Radio 4’s ‘Today’ programme and a report on the apparent infiltration of tax consultants from the ‘Big Four’ accountancy firms into HM’s Treasury department. These consultants were on short-term placement … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer Insight, Customer Management, Key Account Management, SRM, Supplier Management | Tagged Account Management, KAM, Key Account Management, Procurement, Public Sector, SAM, SRM, Supplier Relationship Management, Trusted Advisor | 3 Comments

Power: A Place in Education and Training?

Posted on March 11, 2013 by David Atkinson

In this fourth and final blog in a series on power in buyer-supplier relationships from Chris Lonsdale, he argues that it would be a mistake to simply dismiss ‘power’ as ‘bad practice’, and proposes that teaching managers about power is about preparing them … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer Management, Key Account Management, Negotiation, Procurement, Selling to Procurement, SRM, Supplier Management | Tagged KAM, Key Account Management, Negotiation, Procurement, SAM, Strategic Account Management, Supplier Relationship Management | Leave a comment

The Use of Power in Supply Markets

Posted on March 3, 2013 by David Atkinson

In this third in a series of blogs from Chris Lonsdale on the concept of power in buyer-supplier relationships, he asserts that a dominant power position in a business relationship is just that, a position. It doesn’t have to be aggressively … Continue reading →

Posted in Key Account Management, Negotiation, Procurement, Selling to Procurement, SRM, Supplier Management | Tagged Account Management, Contract Management, KAM, Key Account Management, Procurement, Sales, SAM, SRM, Strategic Account Management, Supplier Relationship Management | Leave a comment

Buyer-Supplier Power: Concept Not Practice

Posted on February 22, 2013 by David Atkinson

In this second in a series of blogs from Chris Lonsdale on the concept of power in buyer-supplier relationships, he cautions practitioners not to confuse the concept of power with the lazy assumption that it determines how relationships should be managed … Continue reading →

Posted in Procurement, SRM, Supplier Management | Tagged Contract Management, Procurement, SPM, SRM, Supplier Performance Management, Supplier Relationship Management | Leave a comment

Revisiting Buyer-Supplier Power

Posted on February 17, 2013 by David Atkinson

The current horse meat scandal is one of those regular events in British life that confirms the prejudices of all manner of people. The usual suspects have (inevitably) seen this as the latest reason to bash the EU. Other usual … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer Management, Key Account Management, Procurement, Relationship Transformation, Sales Excellence, Selling to Procurement, SRM, Strategic Negotiation, Supplier Management | Tagged KAM, Key Account Management, Negotiation, Procurement, Sales, Sales Effectiveness, SAM, SRM, Strategic Account Management, Supplier Performance Management, Supplier Relationship Management, Supply Management | Leave a comment

Supplier Relationship Management: 10 Guiding Principles

Posted on September 4, 2012 by David Atkinson

In my work training or consulting with clients, and lecturing to MBA students in procurement and supplier relationship management (SRM), a number of general principles (axioms, if you like) have emerged that people find useful when it comes to understanding, … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer Insight, Procurement, Selling to Procurement, SRM, Supplier Management | Tagged Collaboration, Procurement, Sales, SPM, SRM, Supplier Relationship Management | 1 Comment

G4S: the lessons for Procurement

Posted on July 31, 2012 by David Atkinson

Pre-opening ceremony, G4S dominated the London2012 Olympics news, and there has been much comment on the reasons why it failed to meet the contracted-for volume of security personnel, with demands for retribution against the company. Talk has … Continue reading →

Posted in Negotiation, Performance Management, Procurement, SRM, Strategic Negotiation, Supplier Management, Supplier Management Case Studies | Tagged Contract Management, Negotiation, Procurement, Public Sector, Supplier Performance Management, Supplier Relationship Management | Leave a comment

Intention: Is this the story of your failing SRM programme?

Posted on June 21, 2012 by David Atkinson

Picture the scene; last year you attended an inspiring conference where you listened to speakers waxing lyrical about the benefits that were emerging from their shiny new supplier relationship management (SRM) programme and how they’d moved into the new post-contract value improvement game. … Continue reading →

Posted in Procurement, SRM, Supplier Management | Tagged Procurement, SRM, Supplier Performance Management, Supplier Relationship Management | Leave a comment

SRM value: putting a figure on it.

Posted on May 16, 2012 by David Atkinson

A couple of weeks ago I was enjoying my regular experience of working with MBA students at the University of Birmingham, on a day dedicated to concepts and implementation of Supplier Relationship Management (SRM), when we snagged on the tricky … Continue reading →