The practice of securing supplier influence at the design or specification stage of a project rather than at the proposal or negotiation stage. Early supplier involvement is appropriate when a project is novel and/or when the level of client expertise is insufficient to make informed choices about developing specifications and/or design. The challenge is that involvement of the supplier prior to any competitive processes reduces competitive tension, and so the selection of the supplier needs to be made carefully. In addition, the parties need to adopt co-operative processes to create and share any value created. This approach is sometimes called ‘co-maker ship’. See also Cooperation and Supplier Relationship Management.

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