Increasingly, a company's reputation is not solely a function of its marketing efforts. It also depends mightily on its suppliers. Customers are growing ever more conscious of (and making buying decisions based upon) the origin of the applicable products or services, how they are made or delivered, and under what conditions. A problem that is seemingly outside of a business' control and resulting from the actions of a vendor can reverberate in a manner that damages years of developing a brand's spotless reputation and customer loyalty.

Suppliers are an extension of a business, and whether it is sustainability, human rights, anti-corruption, fair labor practices, or product quality, supplier behavior has the power to either strengthen brand reputation or put it in serious peril. The principle that you are only as good as the company you keep holds true in personal relationships, but extends to business associations as well.

It takes years to build a reputation and only the briefest of moments to knock it to the ground. Even if not directly involved in the indiscretion, as the public face of a product, it is that brand goodwill and reputation that suffers. A well-known illustration is BMW and Volkswagen, both of which found themselves in the crosshairs after it was learned that their Chinese supplier of parts was believed to be using forced labor. Nobody knows (or cares to know) the name of that supplier, but the incident (and its associated exposures) attached themselves to those two well-known brands. 

Click here to read the full article written by Josef Keglewitsch (starting on p. 24) published in Inside Rubber Magazine.