A pandemic occurs when an infectious disease affects many people in a large area over several months and spreads rapidly. Businesses of all sizes need to consider how their supply chain will operate during such an event and what precautions they should take to protect their employees, customers, and property. Fortunately, new hybrid systems of sourcing are becoming the new normal in corporate procurement as companies prepare themselves for pandemics and other natural disasters. The 6 practical steps below will help you ensure that your business has everything it needs in order to keep doing business without interruption during a pandemic or other natural disaster.
1) Having a Stakeholder Engagement Strategy
A stakeholder is anyone who has an interest in your organization, whether it be employees, stakeholders, or community members. When thinking about how to maintain good relationships with these people and groups, focus on their needs and desires. By looking at things from their perspective, you can identify ways to help them better understand how your organization works and show that you appreciate them as individuals. Communicating clearly with everyone involved will boost morale and ensure that everyone is on board with your company’s vision. Build a stakeholder engagement strategy around trust—and keep your team members happy!
2) Understanding Brand Risk
Companies must understand their brand risk. There are several ways that companies can assess and manage their brand risk to ensure that it does not get out of control. The most common way is to hire an external corporate procurement consulting firm to help with creating your brand strategy. These professionals have great expertise in managing Brand Risk and will be able to give you guidance throughout each step of implementing your new brand strategy. If you want to learn more about how your company can assess its Brand Risk, contact us today.
3) Delivering Value Through Innovative Partnerships
Delivering Value Through Innovative Partnerships – We believe that by constantly innovating and collaborating, you’ll stay ahead of your competition. Whether your company has $1 million or $1 billion in revenue, we’re here to help you navigate today’s complex sourcing environment. Our experts offer decades of experience managing the procurement needs of corporate clients across all industries. No matter where you are on your sourcing journey, we can help you reach your destination—and beyond.
4) Reducing Counterfeit Goods
Counterfeit goods are flooding out into society and it’s not just a headache at your local grocery store. Increasingly, counterfeit products are being manufactured by drug cartels that have been funded by years of selling counterfeits; their smuggling routes, product formulas, and other aspects of their businesses are tightly linked. Over 80% of counterfeit goods seized originate from China and India, but many more go undetected. If you want to reduce counterfeit goods from making it into your supply chain then you need to look at how you’re doing business with your suppliers. Ineffective supplier management programs can be breeding grounds for bad actors – even when dealing with reputable firms.
5) Establishing Supply Chain Partnerships
Establishing partnerships among suppliers, government entities, and procurement companies in the USA can prove critical during any pandemic. Although companies may have to go it alone at first, partnering with other organizations quickly becomes essential to finding new sources of essential supplies and ensuring that companies don’t burn through their stockpiles too quickly. Partnerships should be established beforehand so all involved know who is responsible for which actions, who is organizing what assets, and who is responsible for communicating with all parties as often as possible. Communication at every step of planning and execution is critical—so all partners stay informed and aware of changes when they occur. It’s also important to ask your supply chain partners if they have an adequate stockpile themselves so you don’t exhaust your own stockpile before other suppliers’ stocks run out.
6) Focusing on Data Integration with E-Procurement
Data integration is one of those things that everyone pays lip service to, but few corporate procurement departments actually do. Focusing on data integration with e-procurement can ensure that your organization has necessary data at its fingertips, facilitating better decisions and helping you protect your bottom line. The goal should be to ensure transparency so your decision-makers have all of their relevant information at their fingertips.
Conclusion
No matter where you work, if you’re interested in navigating procurement during a pandemic, it’s crucial to have an existing relationship with your company’s procurement and risk management teams. Your ability to communicate with these individuals is paramount and could mean life or death for everyone involved. What’s more, as many of today’s supply chains are global—even within country borders—it’s important to understand what normal means. If preparedness becomes part of your everyday way of doing business, whether that be through developing solid internal processes or simply by having an open dialogue with your team members, things should go much smoother when disaster strikes.