Does your company rely on the right international partners?

Here, then, is the need to question what is being done in comparison with competitors: we need to carefully evaluate pricing strategies, promotion, and our own know-how to leverage what makes our business unlike any other.

One strategy that can make a difference, but is often underestimated, is the ability to choose and build relationships with the right partners. In fact, their selection should not be limited to a mere choice of the most economically advantageous offer, but rather must take into account multiple factors. In addition, you have to think about a structured path of choice to have the best possible partnership for your company.

The main steps

The main stages of the qualification of international partners are summarized as:

- Selection of the partners

- Qualification of the partners according to defined criteria

- Evaluation of its performance

- Redevelopment and confirmation of the partnership

1. Selection of international partners

The selection process begins with defining the qualification criteria according to which the partner will be selected, and they can include multiple factors, but the ones to absolutely consider are:

- Expertise: you need to check the counterpart's experience in the relevant field, for example by trying to find out what clients they have worked with previously, or by asking for references or references: often the most important clients are included directly on the potential partner's site. Another suggestion may come from obtaining ISO certification (quality, safety, environment, IT);

- Services and products offered: checking the catalog, the website. The products and/or services offered must match our expectations, what we need at a given time, and above all have the best quality at the right price;

- Delivery and intervention time: adherence to terms of service and timelines are fundamental to a good partnership. The counterpart cannot overrun terms or deadlines, otherwise it will negatively affect our profit margin;

- Assistance technique: intervention time and capacity To ensure business continuity;

- Finally, the’economic aspect is a criterion that must be weighted given the other evaluation criteria and can never be the sole factor in determining the qualification Of a provider.

Once the requirements of the products and services to be provided have been agreed upon, the contract terms and the responsibility Of the supplier in case of default.

2. International partner qualification and evaluation

Once all the above analyses have been performed, the potential partner must be qualified. For example, each analysis may be given a score on a defined numerical scale, or a commentary, so that the strengths and weaknesses of each counterpart are kept in mind. Finally, potential partners will be compared to elect and choose the one best suited to our needs.

At this point, the actual partnership can begin: the selection and qualification process, however, does not end. Indeed, it is important to keep its performance monitored, keeping in mind specially designed indicators that are updated periodically.

Thinking of vendor control as a model static is limiting. Modalities are to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis according to the type of supply or service, associated criticality, and customer needs.

Performance can be evaluated on various criteria:

- Compliance: joining the contract; compliance with procedures and protocols as provided;

- Quality Of the service: reports Periodic reviews of delivery times, quality Of products or services, business continuity;

- Security: adequacy : adequacy documentation, absence of accidents and injuries, training of the staff;

- Environment: environmental permits, absence of environmental accidents;

- IT Services: Data protection policy, absence of data breach.

3. Requalification and confirmation of partnership

The qualification evaluation of international partners has as its main objective the verification of the conditions necessary to confirm the retention of qualification and enrollment in the’supplier register.

Companies that manage many providers, such as a service network, define a ranking associated with their performance during the year in order to provide economic incentives to those found to be the best performers.

Only in this way can we expect to develop the enterprise, creating value and accelerating growth: the goal is to make the Increase earnings without eating into savings.

The experience of Panariagroup

All this is not said by us, but by our customers: it is the experience of Panariagroup in India. Founded in 1974, it is active in more than 130 countries, specializing in luxury ceramics with the production of porcelain and laminated stoneware.

The company relied on Octagona to activate A joint venture in India, discovering the importance of being able to rely on international partners reliable and with unique characteristics. Here is Bartolomeo Vultaggio's commentary, Group Internal Audit and Investor Relations Of Panariagroup:

“Thanks to Octagona's scouting skills, we identified the ideal international partner to start our activities in India and set up a joint venture. Octagona followed us throughout the project with professionalism and expertise. In addition to the actual experience of the Indian market, we remained very satisfied with human relations That they have built up and developed.”.

Do you also want to find out how to choose the international partners right and what factors should you evaluate? Then click below and contact us!

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