Overview
In today’s complex operating environment, organisations increasingly rely on external vendors and strategic partners to deliver mission-critical capabilities. However, many enterprises struggle to manage vendor ecosystems effectively, resulting in fragmented governance, suboptimal performance outcomes, unmanaged risks, and missed opportunities for value creation. Strategic Vendor Management (SVM) provides a structured approach to managing vendors not merely as suppliers, but as strategic enablers of organisational competitiveness and transformation.
This course introduces a comprehensive SVM framework covering vendor strategy and segmentation, sourcing and selection, contracting, governance, performance management, risk oversight, stakeholder engagement and partnership development. Participants will explore how to align vendor strategy with enterprise strategy, build robust business cases for sourcing decisions, and establish robust governance mechanisms across people, process, and structure. The role of AI in enabling vendor management processes will also be covered. The overall emphasis is placed on adopting best practices across the full vendor lifecycle while strengthening organisational capability.
Through case discussions, workshops and practical toolkits, participants will learn how to rationalise vendor portfolios, negotiate outcome-based contracts, manage vendor performance, and proactively address emerging risks such as sustainability and operational resilience. The programme equips participants with actionable tools (including AI) and approaches that can be directly applied within their organisations.