Beyond vendor assessment: Relationship assessment programmes

As the limitations of 'traditional' buyer-supplier relations are becoming more recognised, the vendor assessment techniques associated with them are proving incapable of supporting the new relationship-focused paradigm of supply. This has led to a search for ways of establishing, or simulating, equity at the interface between customer and supplier. The theory of relationship assessment has been proposed as a replacement for vendor assessment within one of the leading paradigms, lean supply relationships. The principle of relationship assessment is based upon the perceived need for both parties within a supply contract to assess the relationship jointly, in order to work together to improve its performance and value adding/waste reduction potential. Relationship assessment programmes (RAP) may be seen to be both a development of vendor assessment schemes (ie a quantified analysis process coupled with a corrective action agenda) and a radical departure from traditional methods (the assessor is the joint customer-supplier team; the subject of the assessment is the relationship, in which both share, but for which neither can take sole responsibility). In order to understand RAP it is necessary to study both the development of vendor assessment and the principles of lean supply. This paper will present an account of recent UK research, which led to the development of a conceptual model for relationship assessment programmes. The model itself is presented, in the context of established literature, followed by a discussion of the steps that are currently being taken to operationalize the model and produce a relationship assessment management tool. The research is based upon case studies and postal questionnaires. The conceptual model has been constructed by the research team from Bath, in conjunction with several industrial collaborators: ICL Ltd, British Airways plc, Shell Downstream Procurement Ltd, and Partnership Sourcing Ltd. The paper concludes with a discussion of the practical barriers that must be overcome in the implementation of such a tool, and the potential benefits expected. Copyright © 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.