O esticar da cadeia de valor

Relações de parceria, relações ganhar-ganhar entre cliente e fornecedor eis o desafio em cima da mesa nesta muito interessante análise no FT "Sum of the parts"
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"But the big companies may also be partly to blame. Many have squeezed suppliers mercilessly for years. The car industry is renowned for manufacturers suddenly imposing demands for 10 per cent across-the-board cuts in component prices. Likewise, UK retailers led by Tesco have succeeded in pushing payment terms with suppliers increasingly in their favour. Tesco has increased the time it takes to pay for some goods from 30 to 60 days."
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"That is why companies such as Daimler, the German luxury carmaker, and some of its rivals are looking at giving cash straight to suppliers in difficulties. “Three hundred thousand jobs are at risk in this industry – due to a crisis that was not caused by small and mid-sized companies but [which] is making them suffer massively,” says Dieter Zetsche, Daimler’s chief executive. Volkswagen, Europe’s largest carmaker, has set up a special team to stop suppliers from collapsing.
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Counterparty risk is well-known in the financial world, where it refers to the chance one side of an agreement will default. As it becomes a concept to be reckoned with in the real economy, manufacturers are checking their exposure. “We have got to look at risk in the supply chain much more closely. Is your Chinese supplier financially sound? Are they capable of maintaining your supply?” asks Tim Lawrence, a supply chain expert at PA Consulting."
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"Manufacturing experts say that for those and other reasons they are starting to see western companies bring back operations or suppliers from far-off countries in Asia to closer to home: eastern Europe or Mexico.
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“We are hearing about it more and more – that companies that went to China and elsewhere in Asia for the low costs are facing rising energy and labour costs. So they are bringing production back closer to home either to the UK or more likely to eastern Europe,” says Jane Lodge, head of the manufacturing industry team at Deloitte in London." (basta pesquisar neste blogue a palavra proximidade para perceber que o movimento começou antes do Verão)
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O génio da deflação já terá saído da garrafa a sério? "Other big risks remain in the supply chain. One is the reduction of inventory levels – known as destocking – that is taking place across many industries. “There is a huge effect of massive destocking in all supply pipelines. Lots of people are waiting to buy things as they believe raw materials will only become cheaper. It is a vicious spiral,” says Feike Sijbesma, chief executive of DSM, the Dutch life sciences company. Destocking has also occurred in retail supply chains in a big way despite Christmas being so close."
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"Daniel Corsten, a professor at the IE Business School at Madrid, says these are desperate times for some otherwise solid suppliers: “Supply chains are generally in good shape ... But what we see now is very worrying. Previously robust suppliers in terms of quality and reliability cannot finance their production cycle any more. Shrinking demand means that customers pay late, less, or default, and as a consequence suppliers receive theirs less and late. Counterparty risk has reached the real economy.”"
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"As the insurers retreat, the grinding of unlubricated supply chains can be heard round the world."