External Reverse Marketing takes into consideration the importance of
suppliers in the marketing process. In a customer-driven organization,
external suppliers can be regarded as the "reverse" customers of the
organizational system. In order to satisfy the needs of external customers, we
must satisfy the needs of suppliers so that they can deliver the quality
products of incoming materials with shorter lead time.
External Reverse Marketing directs a company to develop marketing activities
to satisfy the needs of suppliers. A customer-supplier partnership program
400 Total Quality Marketing
must be developed in the long run, which can be regarded as a part of
relationship marketing.
Nowadays, more and more companies have practiced relationship marketing
towards their suppliers. For example. Xerox has reduced the number of
suppliers from 5,000 to 500 and developed long-term partnership programs to
those quality suppliers. Some companies have developed a joint promotional
program with suppliers to market their products. Others have developed a
joint effort in the research and development of new products. Therefore,
External Reverse Marketing provides a competitive edge for the companies in
the growing competitive markets.
18.2 ADVERSARIAL RELATIONSHIP
The buoyant market of the early 1979s, coupled with the inherent lack of
dynamism in mass production, had led to an adversarial relationship with
suppliers. Since there were plenty of businesses, a gain of business for one
supplier was a loss of business for another. In the context of a specific
contract, competition for suppliers was defined by the buyer. This meant that
the terms upon which suppliers would bid are more fixed by the inquiry
process ...