From vendor, to supplier, to strategic partner, the relationship between procurement and suppliers is still evolving. This panel will address how to take your supplier relationship management to the next level.
• With mainly small companies driving true innovation, how can you encourage your existing suppliers to be the potential source of new products?
• Leveraging the capabilities of second-tier suppliers to generate savings
• Tactics for getting suppliers to become engaged and support you to bring costs out
• Regaining leverage with suppliers from rogue stakeholders
• How do you move a supplier to strategic partner status?

The pressure is definitely on to procure responsibly from sustainable suppliers. We're seeing a dramatic increase in attention on supply chain due diligence, for example governments and NGOs developing websites or apps to publish figures on things like factory pollution and labor incidents, as well as a steady increase in regulation activity that impact supply chain. This pressure requires a multi-faceted solution with carefully selected tools.
In this session, you'll hear how Nestlé has been building up a responsible sourcing program that activates their global operations to on-board and engage suppliers. The scope of their responsible sourcing program is broad and includes topics such as Environment, Labor/social issues, Ethics, and uses a carefully selected set of tools: suppliers sustainability ratings/scorecards, audits, supply chain mapping, training with local farmers and other elements.