Supplier Relationship Management Goes Digital: First Empirical Insights

Abstract

In an increasingly competitive environment, suppliers are now seen as an important source of innovation. Long-term partnerships enable companies to access the knowledge of suppliers to optimize their business. "Procurement 4.0" is one of the concepts that come to the fore when talking about digitalization of business processes. The major aim of this research is to discuss a conceptual model of "Procurement 4.0" and its potential to rethink the management of supplier relationships, which will be one of the main future tasks of procurement. The paper is based on a factual-analytical research approach that serves to continuously specify and supplement the elements of the frame of reference: Two challenging concepts, "Procurement 4.0" and Supplier Relationship Management, are merged to contribute to the fact that purchasing is indispensable as an "interface" within a global supply chain to reap the benefits of digitization. The factors that prove to be obstacles to digital supplier relationship management along the digital supplier journey-e.g. lack of guidelines, approaches or tools and a lack of understanding of the importance of long-term relationships-are reflected within the identified technologies of digital transformation. A comprehensive analysis of the given situation within digital supplier relationship management in Germany is provided. The most important digital supplier touchpoints are discussed in order to develop a traditional supplier relationship towards a digital relationship management. Thus, this paper succeeds in illustrating how the innovative concept of a supplier journey can be implemented in practice to counteract the future, entrepreneurial challenges.

A Risk-Aware Approach to Digital Procurement Transformation

“…Digitalization of procurement is a key issue within the supply chain [11]. The digital transformation of procurement is not limited only to large companies [12,13]. Digital transformation brings with it a number of obstacles, and the cost of acceptance can be a limiting factor [14].…”

Contesting the Role of Digitisation and ICT in the Business Model of Agricultural Holdings and Farmers: Micro-Study of the Inner Rural Periphery Region in the Czech Republic

“…Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) are key enablers for supply chain management, due to their ability to support information sharing and reduce information processing time. According to Fröhlich and Steinbiß (2020), in an increasingly competitive environment, suppliers are considered to be an important source of information, and in the future, they will not be just "another link" in the supply chain, but they will support innovation and digitisation. According to Ievoli et al (2019), the main impact of new technologies concerns the reshaping of supplier-customer relationships and the creation of entrepreneurial activities.…”