L4M5 Exam Results

Supplier bargaining power is stronger when there arefew suppliers,low volume requirementsfrom buyers, and when suppliers possessunique capabilities or technology(like specialized machinery). These conditions reduce buyer leverage and increase supplier influence.

Delivering on commitments is fundamental to building high-trust relationships. When an organization reliably fulfills its promises, it reinforces the supplier’s confidence in the partnership, fostering long-term collaboration. While contract management and audits are supportive processes, delivering on commitments directly strengthens trust, as emphasized in CIPS best practices for relationship management.

Supplier conditioning is the process of influencing a supplier or suppliers to behave in a certain way, or to accept certain circumstances. Within a negotiation, the buyer needs to make sure that the supplier has a number of messages in mind, about the outcomes that the buyer needs to achieve and about the shared sense of purpose that buying organisation has in achieving these outcomes.

Supplier appraisal is a process of evaluating a supplier's ability to carry out a contract in term of quality, delivery, price and other contributing factors.

Supplier positioning is the process of classifying spend with a supplier in terms of the profit potential and supply risk and assists in prioritising categories of spend and developing the right strategy.

Supplier selection is the process of selecting a supplier to acquire the necessary materials to support the outputs of organisations. Selection of the best and/or the most suitable suppliers is based on assessing supplier capabilities (Shih et al., 2004).

In difficult negotiations and disputes, hardball tactics like punishment and threats often seem like the only way to win concessions. Some negotiators seem to believe that hardball tactics are the key to success in any negotiation. They resort to extreme demands and even unethical behaviour to try to get the upper hand in a negotiation.

The following are 8 typical hardball tactics:

1. Good cop / Bad cop

2. Low ball / High ball

3. Bogey

4. The Nibble

5. Chicken

6. Intimidation

7. Aggressive Behaviour

8. Snow Job

You can read the details of each tactic here.

In the contrary to hardball tactics, negotiators can adopt integrative approach to the negotiation. Some of integrative tactics are:

1. Expand the Pie

2. Bridging

3. Post Settlement –Settlement

Et cetera