Analyst Insight: Supplier segmentation is a critical foundational component for executing on your supply management strategies and for understanding and building value in the supply network. Supplier segmentation supports an end-to-end supply chain segmentation strategy. However, it must be aligned with downstream processes to ultimately deliver value to customers. Unfortunately, Gartner Supply Chain research finds two-thirds of organizations take a one-size-fits-all view to supplier relationship management, resulting in misaligned resources and little delivered value. - Mickey North Rizza, Gartner Supply Chain Research

Analyst Insight: There are many flavors of supplier networks. And switching costs, especially on the buyers' side, can be high - because these are solutions, not just networks. For these reasons, we will not see the consolidation of supplier networks to nearly the same extent that we see for other types of networks. - Bill McBeath, chief research officer, ChainLink Research