One supplier is 40% of cost of sales. The last time you tested the price was 2019.

Concentrated supply rarely fails loudly. It fails by quietly removing your ability to know what anything should cost.

By Steve 5 min read
Abstract bridge artwork for One supplier is 40% of cost of sales. The last time you tested the price was 2019.

The relationship works. Deliveries land, quality is consistent, the account manager picks up the phone, and there is a discount off list that looked generous when it was negotiated. Nothing in the monthly numbers is flashing. And yet nobody in the business can answer a simple question: what would someone else charge for this today? That gap is the interesting part. Supplier concentration is usually discussed as a continuity risk: what happens if they fail, or are acquired, or have a fire. That risk is real but it is legible;…

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