Reference no: EM132294982
1. As a small supplier selling to a very large buyer (such as a supplier selling consumer goods to Walmart or an auto component manufacturer selling to Toyota or General Motors), what are at least two ways you can reduce your firm’s vulnerability to the larger buyer in the relationship? Try to come up with solutions that will be sustainable for your firm, and defend your reasoning.
2. As a small supplier selling to a very large buyer (such as Walmart or General Motors as in #1 above), what are at least two ways you can reduce your firm’s uncertainty in the relationship? As above, try to come up with solutions that will be sustainable for your firm, and defend your reasoning.
3. As a large buyer (such as Toyota or GM, for example) working with a small supplier, what can you do to reduce your supplier’s sense of vulnerability in the relationship? (Assume you’ve already made the decision that you want to do so.) Explain your reasoning.
4. Your company is a small supplier to an automaker (let’s say Ford). You’re part of a team serving this key account. Your boss wants your team to cross-sell Ford some components that have been used in sedans and coupes your company has sold to automakers in the past. You recently learned that Ford plans to phase out production of passenger sedans and coupes other than Mustang and one or two others. Evaluate your boss’s proposal in terms of the elements of Green’s trust equation from Chapter 3. Are there any advantages? Any disadvantages? Explain your reasoning.
5. A different small supplier (to a large pharmaceutical company) wants to improve its capabilities in a bid to help it become a preferred supplier. The question is which capabilities to focus on first. One member of your team suggests that a large company like your customer will probably be impressed most by technical expertise, and recommends you focus first on credibility. Evaluate this suggestion in the context of Green’s trust equation. Is this the best choice, or should your team focus first on some other capability that will address some other element of the trust equation? Explain your reasoning.