The delusions of buyers and suppliers

When it comes to the quality of relationships, it seems there is no such thing as ‘average’. 70% of buyers believe that their supplier relationships are better than those of their industry competitors. And while you might think that’s an over-optimistic view,  it is relatively modest when compared to the 85% of suppliers who are confident that they are better than their competition. Remarkably, just 6% of buyers think perhaps they are below average – and 0% of suppliers feel that way.

And they say that we can’t trust AI because it hallucinates ….!

WorldCC’s current survey (link), undertaken in partnership with Resolutiion, is examining claims and disputes – their causes, frequency and the way that they are handled. The results so far (based on input from almost 200 organizations) show a few areas of convergence, but many others where the two sides just don’t see the world through the same lens. They don’t agree about the frequency of claims and disputes; they don’t agree about how they get resolved; and they certainly don’t agree about who causes the problem. So all in all, I guess it is no surprise that there’s such frequent tension.

What does psychology tell us?

Even though many individuals give themselves and their relationships high marks, the reality of business relationships—especially in contract-heavy, high-stakes sectors—is that conflicts do occur, sometimes quite regularly. These psychological tendencies (especially illusory superiority and optimism bias) help explain why the subjective belief in “better than average” relationships can persist, despite objective evidence of significant conflict rates.

Overall, a psychologist tells us that human beings are not purely rational; we continuously filter, interpret, and recall experiences in ways that favor our self-image and preserve a positive narrative of our own behavior and capabilities. This can create a disconnect between the “big picture” of conflict statistics and people’s personal perceptions of their business relationships.

Through this survey – and the report that will come from it – we intend to help the contracts and commercial community to reframe thinking and to reduce the frequency of major disagreements. Many of them are avoidable – but not if we operate in an environment of denial.

To participate in this fascinating research (and to be among the first to benefit from the results) please visit https://iaccm.fra1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_2ujDSKdBydOBp30