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 unsatisfactory.
It manages to offer most of them technical assistance, though. Company D is the most decentralised company in
our study. Logistics personnel at the plant is responsible 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
suppliers 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.