The strategic first-tier supplier retained after three rounds of iterative validations the following vertical KPIs to optimize its own activities, namely, KPIs related to planning (‘‘methods and accuracy forecasting’’), to sourcing (concerning mostly inventory management such as ‘‘days of inventory’’, ‘‘inventory carrying cost’’), to operations/production (‘‘capacity utilization’’), to finance (in particular, ‘‘net working capital’’ since it is considered as critical for SMEs with limited financial resources), to outbound logistics in order to improve delivery to its direct customer (i.e. the distribution center)