Stakeholder Feedback
There are various means for collecting data for the supply chain analysis:
- Conducting a survey among stakeholders;
- Interviews by phone and in the field;
- E-mail exchange;
- Workshop discussions.
Field visits play an important role in data gathering for the supply chain analysis. Preparation for such visits begins with extensive discussions with the client, background research and preliminary data analyses, and e-mail exchanges with those in the target locations. So field visits are most useful after this groundwork has been done. An advance conference call can sometimes lay out the objectives for the field visit. Lining up interviews with stakeholders in each part of the supply chain is critical to gaining perspective on these issues. These discussions with stakeholders may reveal divergent perspectives on the supply chain, and these differences often trace to their position in the supply chain.
The field visit itself provides the opportunity to conduct both one-on-one and small group interviews as well as focus group discussions. Sometimes strategically sequencing the meetings may allow for building on earlier answers given by other stakeholders. Scheduling such meetings can be challenging given the busy schedules of different stakeholders. So leaving extra time, particularly towards the tail end of the field visit, enables last-minute scheduling and adding otherwise unanticipated stakeholder interviews. Having more than one project team member at these meetings allows better capture of what was said. These face-to-face meetings are invaluable to understand the depth of stakeholder concerns over how the supply chain functions and to probe more deeply these issues. They also seed the opportunity for follow-up e-mail and phone exchanges as the project progresses.
Field visits also give the core research team the opportunity to receive feedback on preliminary findings. This provides a chance to meet with members of the key stakeholder workgroup as well as others. By walking through these early results, the focus group meeting helps to educate stakeholders as to the purpose of the supply chain analysis, to hear their concerns about the process and product of this project, and to receive input into potential recommendations for change.
Strategic Issues in Stakeholder Feedback
The process of obtaining stakeholder feedback raises a host of strategic issues:
- Triangulation of perspectives. In planning the field visit, it is important to ensure that there are opportunities when stakeholders can volunteer candid perspectives on the supply chain. For example, holding an interview with an NGO and its funding agency present may not uncover important failings in the supply chain. To do so, one may need to ensure confidentiality where possible and conduct separate interviews with multiple stakeholders that could provide such information. By interviewing a succession of stakeholders, the answers from earlier interviews often give seed to probes that might be asked in follow-on interviews. Sometimes, one may have to circle back with follow-up queries to sort out contradictions or to delve deeper into issues arising from efforts to triangulate in on the reality of the supply chain’s operations.
- Corroboration with quantitative data. Differing perspectives on the supply chain function have to be reconciled. Quantitative data can be decisive in distinguishing perception from reality. Even when perceptions are disproved by quantitative data analysis, understanding the root for such perceptions can offer insights into the supply chain and its operations.
- Risk mapping. Data collection will reveal that stakeholders throughout the supply chain have differing perspectives as to who is at risk and who is responsible for disruptions in the supply chain. Not surprisingly, this perception stems from the flows of information, product, and funding in the supply chain. When the stakeholder at risk does not have a sense of control or responsibility for a failure in the supply chain, trust can erode.
- Handling non-transparency of data. Multiple reasons explain why data sometimes is not forthcoming. Some stakeholders may withhold proprietary information as confidential and central to their competitive strategy in the supply chain. Others may not welcome the scrutiny of their work that inevitably comes with supply chain analysis. The client’s position within the supply chain often influences the degree of collaboration to which stakeholders—both internal and especially external to the client organization—are willing to commit to the process. In presenting its findings, the core research team must acknowledge where such withholding of data has limited the analysis performed.