The research found that supply management’s in- volvement in target costing varied significantly among the organizations studied, as shown in Fig. 3. At the Equipment Manufacturer, target costing was in the early stages of exploration and implementation, and supply management had very limited involvement. In this particular case, supply management was invited to be part of the target costing effort, but chose not to participate due to other priorities. In contrast, at Telecommunications A and the Transport Services firm, where target costing was also a new concept, supply management was the current driver of target costing. Supply management was championing the process in these organizations, specifically to better manage supplier relationships, time to market issues, cost management and overall cost accountability.
In organizations where supply management is a member of the target costing team, supply management was previously the driver of target costing activities. For example, at the Consumer Products firm, supply management had begun to use the target costing concept over 10 years ago for specific purchases characterized by high costs, difficulty in managing and assessing costs due to its uniqueness, and proprietary technology. Target costing has now spread throughout the organization. As a result, target costing has evolved into a team approach, far beyond supply management. Increased competitive pressure heightened interest in target costing, which in turn increased concern for cost management across functions.
Similarly, supply management was given primary responsibility for driving the target costing process at the Automotive Manufacturer until approximately the mid 1990s. At that time, the degree of responsibility was changed—supply management now shares the responsibility with the design Research & Development (R&D) area. The shared approach has achieved much more satisfactory results due to greater ‘‘buy-in’’ in the design function, whose process drives most of the cost.
At the Computer Peripheral firm a high level team
develops the goals for target costing. However, an engineer and a buyer actually drive the process by working with the supplier to meet the target cost.
At the remaining firms, supply management is seen as a critical interface with suppliers in target costing, helping to prequalify suppliers, negotiate prices, identify potential supplier issues and monitor performance. Thus, while it appears that the role of supply management varies widely in the early stages of target costing implementation, there is much consistency once the process is accepted. In the organizations studied where target costing is a well-established, institutionalized process, purchasing’s role is that of an important team member and a key interface with the supplier. The manner in which supply management interfaces with the supplier in the target costing process is explored in more depth, in response to questions two and three.