Manufacturing companies place a strong emphasis on the role of supply chain
management-the management of supplies, suppliers, inventory and distribution.
Supplier management is key and much of the literature talks about the trend to
reduce supplier base. Database analysis gave empirical evidence of this trend in
UK manufacturing companies-201 companies from different industrial sectors were
all found to have cut their supplier base over the last four years, on average
by 9% in the household products sector and approximately 35% in the process,
engineering and electronics sectors. Further research at four companies looked
at their experiences with suppliers and established that a key reason for
supplier base reduction is to free time to more effectively manage the remaining
suppliers. The criteria used for supplier selection and reasons why single-
sourcing was avoided were also identified. These findings on supplier management
have implications for both researchers and managers in industry
