b2 w7

Question 1=

Price. Please respond to the following:

• Explain what would you do when your longtime supplier will not lower its current prices. Assume that this supplier provides the best product/material that you need.
• Discuss when you would always select suppliers/bidders based on price. Assume that all bidders are similar in quality and services, why and why not?
• Describe how one can engage a supplier in a negotiation with a price expectation. Relate your experience in purchasing a car, for example. Provide at least two (2) scenarios to your explanation.

Question 2=

Negotiation is fundamental to establishing price agreements and reevaluating costs in manufacturing, delivery, and inventory. If the supplier is consistent in its quality and delivery, I try to visit their site rather than inviting them into our site. It makes them feel a lot more comfortable and a lot of things can be evaluated in terms of the actual costs of production in delivery at the suppliers site.

One thing that helps me with suppliers offering the same quality and service level is their openness to price agreements, and inventory management tools.

Scenario: Say I’m buying a used car from a car dealer. One option would be to have a price in mind with previous researched documents or targets about the actual cost for that model/year, etc. Such as KBB, and other sites are a good start to know exactly how much the value of the vehicle is, then suggesting an actual and reasonable offer to the dealer. Another option would be, if you have a certain amount in mind but no idea of what you want to buy. Base you assumption that the dealer would increase any vehicle value by a certain percentage, and work your way through to meeting half way. Some simple ideas. 

Question 3=

Cost Management. Please respond to the following:

• Describe three (3) key concepts you consider most important in the total cost of ownership.
• Describe how price discounting would influence the understanding of purchasing as a profit center.
• Explain what and how a small business can apply and benefit from the strategic cost management.  Give at least two (2) examples.
• Describe one (1) of your business negotiation experiences. Explain how your negotiation impacted directly and/or indirectly to the profit and/or the expense of your company or organization. If you do not have business negotiation experience, describe one (1) business negotiation experience you observed or learned about.

Question 4=

As part of the total cost of ownership, I would consider overhead costs to define the costs influenced by manufacturing. Tooling and engineering costs to create a reasonable analysis of costs derived from the dies, molds, and other set up and tooling costs aside from overhead. Finally, the estimated labor costs to determine the project capacity and charges for hiring and turnover

Small businesses can benefit from a strategic cost management initiative if they are able to define operational costs and administrative costs.

Several years ago I was part of a supplier administration project. The objective was to consolidate supplier databases and contract agreements to influence sourcing into generating additional cost savings to the organization on a multidivisional level. The strategy was to work with the available ERP systems for the company in a certain country and determine the business opportunities available for established suppliers.