Review and Improve

Our final and concluding piece of advice in managing a sourcing initiative overseas is to find time, after everything is done and before you are ready to place a repeat order, to review the process and look for a few key things you can improve.  Continuous improvement is a noble goal for any business and when dealing with overseas suppliers, and the complexities that this involves, there will be problems at worst and inefficiencies at best.  Take some time to review what worked well and what didn’t and try and address a couple of the “not-so-efficient” moments by making some adjustments.  Rate your overall experience and how well you met your priorities that you set out at the beginning of the process.  Were there any risks that you identified and that need to be more appropriately addressed?  Ask yourself to find two ways to make the process better the next time around.