15.9 Discussion and Practice

Think about how you usually make purchase decisions when you visit stores. How do you ensure that everything you are buying is of high enough quality? Do you tend to prioritize price or quality? Is there a pattern to when you would emphasize one over the other?

On your laptop, go to www.patagonia.com. Navigate to their supply chain transparency and disclosure pages. How does Patagonia ensure supplier quality? In what dimensions does Patagonia measure quality? Are there aspects of quality that Patagonia is not considering when it comes to supplier selection?

Now, visit the websites of Nike and Adidas. Take a look at their respective corporate social responsibility disclosures. Can you put together a supplier scorecard based on Patagonia, Nike, and Adidas if you were to choose one of them as your supplier? What dimensions would you use? How would you score them?

Based on the above, which company is the clear laggard in quality? How would you recommend to the company to improve? What programs would you implement? Are there third-party certifications that can be used to improve the laggard’s quality?

Now, take a look at your favorite online retailer’s account history. For instance, if you visit your Amazon account and look through all your purchases, are there purchases that you regretted? Randomly select 20 purchases and do the following:

• Visit a review website and see if there was a better alternative you could have purchased. What are some quantifiable performance indicators that you can use to track product performance?

• Visit a competing retailer’s website to compare prices. Did you enjoy substantial savings by buying them from your favorite online retailer?

• How would you benchmark your future purchases based on performance indicators and cost?