The US-China trade war is an ongoing process, and tariff barriers and the wave of production relocation are fundamentally reshaping the global supply chain landscape. Many multinational brands are shifting their production bases to Southeast Asia, with Vietnam becoming a focal point. For Taiwanese businesses, this means more opportunities for cooperation, but it also presents challenges. Those unable to promptly grasp upstream and downstream collaboration will be quickly eliminated in the competitive landscape of manufacturing in Vietnam .

• Rules of origin and tariffs : If the supply chain is not transparent, difficulties may arise during export customs declaration or country of origin verification.
• Supplier diversification and local differences : Vietnam has many small and medium-sized suppliers with varying levels of process and management standards.
• The need for cross-border collaboration : Procurement, logistics, and finance are often located in different countries. If information exchange relies solely on manual and paper-based methods, it will be inefficient and prone to errors.

Many companies initially thought that "as long as they find a supplier and sign a contract, they can rest easy," but once they arrived in Vietnam, they found that problems arose one after another: untimely response to quotations, delayed delivery, discrepancies in the quantity received, and untraceable account reconciliation differences .

In the wave of supply chain shifts, companies cannot focus solely on individual procurement or transactions; they must consider the implications from the perspective of "supply chain management strategy."

How to build a transparent, traceable, and collaborative network, and how to use digital tools to enhance the capabilities of suppliers to form a "win-win" partnership.

SRM's Five Core Functions and Management Focus:

• Supplier Collaboration and Transparency Process

This allows for real-time synchronization of the order, shipment, receipt, and reconciliation processes, reducing information gaps and minimizing disputes and delays.

• Quotation and Delivery Management

Improve supplier response efficiency, provide anomaly alerts, and avoid unforeseen production delays.

• Goods receipt and quality traceability

The system, equipped with tools such as barcode scanning, ensures real-time correlation between received quantity and quality, preventing discrepancies between ERP records and actual conditions.

• Consistency between Contracts and Accounts

Automated comparison of contracts, orders, and invoices reduces manual reconciliation time and ensures compliance and financial transparency.

• Supplier performance and continuous improvement

By tracking supplier delivery times and quality through data, we can optimize our supplier structure and build a long-term partner network.

Based on my observations over the past few years, these functions are particularly important in the local context of Vietnam, because there are many suppliers with different scales and management cultures. Without a digital collaboration mechanism, it is easy to encounter problems such as "inconsistent accounts, incorrect materials, and incomplete deliveries".

The value of SRM lies not only in providing a set of tools, but also in changing the way businesses collaborate with suppliers:

Shift from passively dealing with problems to proactively planning and taking immediate control.

• Reduce risks : Avoid delivery delays, customs disputes, or tax disputes caused by information asymmetry.
• Improve efficiency : Shorten quotation and reconciliation times, allowing procurement staff to focus on strategic work rather than routine tracking.
• Strengthening competitiveness : A transparent supply chain makes it easier to attract international brands and become a preferred partner.

As supply chain expert Martin Christopher stated:

"Competition is no longer between companies, but between supply chains."

Just as I saw in Vietnam, the Taiwanese businesses in Vietnam that continue to thrive in the global market are all companies that can efficiently manage their supply chains and have transparent supply chains .

As Vietnam's importance in the global supply chain increases, the implementation of SRM by Taiwanese businesses in Vietnam is no longer an option, but a necessity. For businesses, the most important thing is to proactively plan and deploy early, rather than waiting for problems to arise.

We recommend that you start discussing with experts now to plan an SRM path that suits your size and development stage, so as to truly reduce risks and seize opportunities.

FAQ

Q1: What is the difference between SRM and ERP?

A1: ERP focuses on internal enterprise resource management, while SRM focuses on "collaboration between enterprises and suppliers" and is an external extension of ERP.

Q2: What is the biggest challenge in implementing SRM in Vietnam?

A2: The biggest challenge is that supplier processes are not standardized and lack information technology. Therefore, training and SOP implementation are needed to enable suppliers to use the system effectively.

Q3: Does importing SRM need to be done all at once?

A3: Not necessarily. Companies can start with high-pain-point areas such as "quotation and order coordination" and "delivery management," and gradually expand to contracts, reconciliation, and performance management.

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