How about a differentiated sourcing governance ?

World-Class IT Vendor Management: An Essential Capability for Maximizing Outsourcing Value
Publish Date: October 26, 2011
Author(s): Chen, Stephen; Cooke, Mike; Bising, Guy

An intesresting article that details a vendor management capability with five dimensions : culture, governance, organisation, people and IT support systems.

But these capabilities should be shaped according to the sourcing strategy : looking for scale, speed or innovation [1]

If you address scale or speed, that is fine to put the Legal department in the middle (contrat negociation) or at the end (contrat termination) of the vendor management cycle (as shown in exhibit 2 page 5).

But if you are heading for innovation, i would feel that you would be better off to invite the legal department right at the front of the cycle to help to tackle with the intellectual property issues.

For a large organisation which generally pursue scale, speed and innovation with its vendors portofolio, a differentiated sourcing governance should be put in place [2].


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[1] quoting the title of a McKinsey article « Managing IT for scale, speed and innovation » by Sam Marwaha et Paul Willmott, McKinsey & Company, 2006, referenced under the title "A differentiated governance model for IT"

[2] pour les visiteurs francophones, vous êtes invités sur le site Open RSE N°6 sur la gouvernance de la propriété intellectuelle d'entreprise en relation d'affaires.