Rethinking Business Relationships in Supply Chain Management

A Conversation with Kate Vitasek, faculty member at the University of Tennessee and architect of the Vested Business Model

Apr 15, 2025

When it comes to working with suppliers, customers, and logistics service providers, most companies still take a “What’s In It for Me?” approach to business relationships instead of a “What’s In It for We?” approach. The problem is with the mindset and approach each side has traditionally taken, according to Kate Vitasek, faculty member at the University of Tennessee and architect of the Vested Business Model. To quote from one of her books, “The focus needs to be on developing evolving and mutually beneficial relationships that create shared value, solve mutual problems, and get both parties to a place of ‘we’ rather than the usual ‘us vs. them’ tug of war.”

Why is rethinking your approach to business relationships in supply chain management more critical than ever today? What are the main hurdles to creating more collaborative business relationships and how can you overcome them? Where are we today compared to 15 years ago when Kate started her work on Vested business relationships? What benefits have companies achieved by taking this approach? How can companies and their partners get started?

Those are some of the questions that Adrian Gonzalez, founder and host of Taking Logistics, will discuss with Kate Vitasek tomorrow (Wednesday, April 16) at 2:00 pm ET on a special episode of Talking Logistics on LinkedIn. Register today to join the conversation!

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