Why does everyone think all business relationships have to be partnerships?

Referring to suppliers as ‘partners’ has been common practice within many organisations for a some time, but is that at all helpful?  Even the most well intended arrangements seem to begin operating in a ‘partnership style’ but quickly decline into ‘N.A.T.O. style’ that’s No Action Talk Only!  Many more decline even further, some into open warfare before the contract term is out. 

Wouldn’t it be better for organisations to at least ask the question; should this arrangement be a partnership?  The answer to that (by the way) is a resounding ‘yes’, simply because not every arrangement works best as a partnership.  This is the case with any buyer / supplier scenario, but is especially relevant in the sphere of commissioning and outsourcing where the de facto approach is to attempt partnership working.  

Part of the problem is that people don’t realise that  there are alternative ways to approach these big commercial arrangements.  We’ve identified at least four which we call, the colleague, the capitalist, the collector and the controller.  They each have distinct ways of working to bring about best value from the relationship; without too much thought you can probably decipher the intended focus just by considering their name.  Each approach has different visions, behaviours, structures, goal setting, systems, rewards and contracts.  So it makes a lot of difference which one you select and apply to your arrangement.  

In addition it is also really important to understand the differing market conditions which make these alternative approaches the most suitable.  You can be guided as to which is the correct approach by understanding the ease or difficulty of a market, alongside the level of expenditure you command in that market.  

It really is no wonder that some major commissioned services disappoint, when they are being managed with a style which encourages the wrong responses, practices and behaviours on both sides of the relationship.  Smart organisations are tuning into the fact that each major service provision needs to be managed via a different approach strategy.  When they start doing that, they start delivering real value.