Company B, on the
other hand offers assistance to almost every
supplier that is under-performing. However,
Company B is very reluctant to rate suppliers as
‘‘unsatisfactory’’ in the first place and does not
have such strict guidelines and fixed procedures in
its rating process as for example Company A.
Company D is somewhere in the middle. It regards
almost ten percent of its supply base as unsatis-
factory (although only around 1% are regarded as
serious under-performers). It manages to offer
most of them technical assistance, though. Com-
pany D is the most decentralised company in our
study. Logistics personnel at the plant is respon-
sible for supplier follow-up and supplier technical
assistance. They developed a whole range of
performance measurement tools with which they
work on a daily basis. Problems are mostly
addressed with suppliers as soon as they occur.
An additional vehicle to communicate with sup-
pliers and to highlight under-performance is
through a system of administrative charges:
Company D charges individual suppliers with
administrative cost occurred at the logistics
department due to suppliers’ underperformance.
After initial resistance, this procedure has now
become fully accepted by suppliers. The monthly
supplier performance rating is mainly seen as a
support tool.