Beating up suppliers on price only provides a short-term gain.  To reduce costs for the long run, buyers must take cost out of both sides of the relationship.  Many companies have started to use supplier Websites or portals as a vehicle, cutting costs by moving business processes requiring in-person, telephone, and document exchanges to the Internet.  The problem: Many of these efforts are departmentally based and only deal with a few of the Seven Supplier Business Processes.

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