Supplier Relationship Management in Intelbras Improving quality through buyer-supplier cooperation Fredrik

Abstract: Competitive forces in today‟s business world are putting firms under pressure to improve quality, delivery performance, and responsiveness while simultaneously reducing cost, which for many companies have resulted in increased outsourcing of activities. Consequently a greater dependency on suppliers‟ performance in terms of quality and delivery service has evolved.Companies are therefore exploring ways to leverage their supply chains, by developing their supply chain structure and continually evaluating the role of suppliers in their activities. As supply chains have evolved, a number of different supply chain structures have emerged, based upon the networks and the level of collaboration between the buyer and supplier. The optimization of a supply chain process has proven to lead inevitably to a growing interdependence among supply chain partners. Treating all suppliers the same is no longer feasible, and a failure to recognize that some suppliers have different needs than others.The research conducted in this thesis was aimed at finding strategies, and approaches of effectively working with supplier relationship management.The empirical study was conducted at Intelbras, a Brazilian electronics manufacturer, which has a large percent of its production outsourced. Intelbras has recently segmented their supply-base into two segments; suppliers of commodity type items and suppliers of critical items. For suppliers of critical items, quality agreements were developed to attend the special needs of selected items.The findings of the research was compared and analyzed with the empirical data, which resulted in a few suggestions of possible future developments for Intelbras.Keywords: Supplier Relationship Management, Strategic Segmentation, Total Cost of Ownership, Buyer-Supplier Cooperation, Quality Agreement