Although at first glance this may seem trivial, the answer isn’t that simple. But it’s crucial for the way you organize your innovation process with procurement. Will your R&D department develop on its own, protecting IP from outsiders? Or will it work with suppliers and customers to co-create? Or why not outsource the innovation by asking your partners to deliver certain end-results? And to complicate this decision further; how will this mode of innovation evolve along the stages of the innovation process? Will you start idea generation with your entire supply base? Or with a few partners? This is just the tip of the iceberg of questions that you’ll be asked when you want to decide on how to innovate. There is no ‘one size fits all’, so what you need is a set of structures and processes.
Steps towards organizing innovation with suppliers:
- Define the types of innovation your company wants to apply, and for each;
- Define the procurement business model, and;
- Define process and required competences