The most successful businesses today understand that they do not operate in a vacuum – their growth and prosperity is clearly linked to their partners up and down the value chain. Our latest Future Fit research identifies a number of businesses laser-focused on those relationships – and outperforming their competitors as a result.

Our research identifies the leaders on supply chain management:

• More than half of Future Fit businesses regularly collaborate with suppliers 
• A third of Future Fit businesses work with customers on improvements to products and services, or on strategic decision making 
• More than one third have full visibility of their supply chain or are close to achieving it already 
• Future Fit businesses are 50% more likely to have extensively implemented supply chain risk modelling, compared with the average we surveyed.

“It’s possible to run your business in a way where you treat every sale and purchase as a transaction to be considered in isolation, but companies that operate that way haven’t tended to fare the best,” says Jonathan Barrow, our Head of National Sectors. 

Our research, based on a survey of 1,000 UK businesses across 10 sectors, reflects this view, highlighting the ability to work with an extended value chain as one of four crucial pillars on which Future Fit businesses depend (alongside sustainability, tech and innovation, and talent). 

Future Fit businesses actively want to work with their partners – particularly their suppliers, but also their customers.

This approach is paying off. Almost half the Future Fit businesses in our research (45%) say they have delivered significant growth over the past 12 months, more than twice as many as their peers.

Future Fit businesses in this regard are defined by the work they have done to map their supply chains – not just their direct suppliers, but also their extended chains. More than a third of businesses (37%) say they already have full visibility of their entire supply chain, across all its tiers, or will reach this point within the next 12 months. 

Other businesses in the research, by contrast, expect it to take much longer for them to secure such visibility.

This is important in multiple ways, explains Jonathan. “During the supply chain disruption of recent years, it was companies that really understood their partners and their relationships that were able to find solutions to their problems,” he points out. Looking to the future, partnership also drives innovation.

It’s not only suppliers that Future Fit businesses want to get close to. While more than half the Future Fit businesses (53%) regularly collaborate with suppliers on product and process improvements or strategic decision-making, a third (33%) say the same of their customers. These businesses regularly collaborate with their customers on products and process improvements, rather than simply imposing change and hoping they’ll respond positively.

For businesses that aspire to join their Future Fit peers in harnessing deeper value chain partnership, there are a range of steps you could take: 

• Future Fit businesses prioritise resilience. They are not simply looking for the cheapest deal from their suppliers. Almost a third (29%) strongly agree that they prioritise resilience in the supply chain over speed and cost.
• They are prepared to be open and transparent. Around 22% agree strongly that they are happy to connect customers with suppliers if doing so helps to promote transparency and collaboration.
• Future fitness goes beyond attitude. These businesses are also more likely to have acquired a string of competencies and capabilities that enable their more progressive approach to their value chains. For example, 34% of Future Fit businesses have extensively implemented supply chain risk modelling.
• Their supply chain aligns with sustainability goals. More than a quarter (26%) have extensively implemented a requirement for suppliers to provide verified sustainability data, such as carbon footprint information, and 22% screen their suppliers on environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria. 

This focus could become even more important as stakeholders ranging from customers to regulators become more demanding on ESG, says Jonathan. “Are you prepared to deal with upcoming challenges such as emissions reporting and the carbon border adjustment mechanism?,” he says. “There are likely to be so many decisions to make and having good relationships throughout your supply chain could be essential.”

Now is the time to close the gap to these Future Fit businesses, Jonathan adds. “The ability to tell your story up and down the value chain is a point of commercial differentiation.”

• Identify your key suppliers – and their suppliers – to build greater visibility throughout your supply chain.
• Reach out to as many of these partners as possible and aim to establish more open and collaborative relationships.
• Get even closer to your customers – focus on working in partnership to understand what their purpose is, what they’re looking for from you and why.

Despite the pressures of today, there are opportunities to innovate or grow. We’re here to help you prepare for tomorrow with the capability and confidence to act today.  

Discover more ideas here.

Visit our dedicated cost of living support page for more insight on supply chain management and more: Cost of Living support for businesses