DCAT Research & Benchmarking

DCAT Research & Benchmarking

DCAT’s 2025 Study: 
What Makes a Customer of Choice: Are Pharma Companies & Suppliers Aligned?

The Drug, Chemical & Associated Technologies Association (DCAT) and its Research & Benchmarking Committee are conducting research for its latest study, What Makes a Customer of Choice: Are Pharma Companies & Suppliers Aligned?

Study focus
Strong and mutually beneficial supplier relations are always of crucial importance to bio/pharma companies and their suppliers, but those relationships took on even greater importance during the pandemic as companies had to navigate unique challenges to assure supply of critical materials and services. The need for strong supplier relationships continues today as bio/pharma companies lean more heavily on suppliers for innovations that can give them an edge in the market. While these developments have not flipped the traditional customer–supplier relationship, they are making bio/pharma companies more aware of how their supplier relationships can impact their ability to deliver value to key stakeholders: patients and investors.

To provide DCAT Member Companies further insight into this evolving customer–supplier dynamic, and to benchmark their own journey along it, DCAT’s Research and Benchmarking Committee is focusing its 2025 study on exploring what efforts companies are making to becoming preferred customers of their suppliers, how suppliers are designating those “customers of choice,” and what benefits customers and suppliers receive from such efforts.

Using a combination of survey research and one-on-one interviews, the study will address several key questions:

  • What criteria do suppliers use in designating “customers of choice” or “preferred customers”? To what degree do suppliers have formal programs in place to evaluate their customers’ performance?
  • In turn, what initiatives are bio/pharma companies taking to make themselves “customers of choice” or “preferred customers” at their supplier companies? To what degree do bio/pharma companies have formal programs in place with their suppliers to evaluate their performance as a customer?
  • Are bio/pharma companies and suppliers aligned in what constitutes a “customer of choice”?

Make sure your company participates!
To ensure DCAT delivers meaningful and actionable insights from this research, we ask for your company’s participation by completing our online survey by November 26, 2024. Survey invitation links were sent to designated contacts at DCAT Member Companies. To find out who received the invitation at your company or for further questions, contact DCAT’s Editorial Director at [email protected] or +1 (856) 388.2964.

DCAT Week program and DCAT research report
The insights gained from this research effort will be presented at a special program during DCAT Week, on March 19, 2025, which will feature an executive panel to gain a buy-and-sell side view of this very important topic, followed by the release of a DCAT-produced research report in May 2025. Both are exclusive and complimentary to DCAT Member Companies.

DCAT’s 2024 Report: The Emerging Role of AI in Supply Chain Management

DCAT’s 2024 study, The Emerging Role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Supply Chain Management, examined how AI may change how bio/pharma companies and their suppliers will do business and how AI is now being used in supply chain management and its potential in furthering the customer-supplier relationship.

That report is available for download to DCAT Member Companies with member log-in. Use the button below to download.

DOWNLOAD THE FULL REPORT

DCAT Research & Benchmarking Report Archives

Click here to request a prior year report (see below for topics).

Envisioning Bio/Pharma Sourcing and Supply Chain Management in 2030 (2023)
Gain executive views on their vision for the supply-chain organization of the future: what bio/pharma sourcing and supply-chain functions will look like, how suppliers can prepare for changing customer expectations, and how the role of suppliers will evolve.

Incorporating Sustainability in the Bio/Pharmaceutical Supply Chain (2022) 
Examines the driving factors surrounding sustainability and the progress being made toward sustainability in the supply chain (including manufacturing, packaging, and logistics) in the bio/pharma industry.

Managing Business Continuity Risks (2021)
Details how Bio/pharmaceutical companies and suppliers are managing business continuity risks resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and how lessons learned are affecting their approach to supply-risk management overall.

Managing Bio/Pharma Supply Chains in an Uncertain Global Trade Environment (2020)
Provides insights on whether bio/pharma companies and their suppliers believe the deteriorating trade environment is a major threat, and what they are doing to confront the real and potential risks to their supply chains.

Examining the Current and Future Alignment of the Pharma Customer—Supplier Relationship (2019)
Evaluates the current and near-future imperatives for both pharma customers and suppliers, highlighting areas of alignment and misalignment and the opportunities for improvement.

Value-Based Metrics: Examining the Pharma Customer—Supplier Relationship (2018)
Examines the practices and key metrics used by both pharma companies and suppliers to measure the benefits of value-creation activities in the supply of direct materials.

Value Creation in Pharmaceutical Procurement (2017)
Surveying the CPOs of large to mid-sized pharma companies, the study examines Procurement’s role internally and with suppliers to deliver value for achieving corporate and business goals.

About DCAT Research & Benchmarking

DCAT Research & Benchmarking is a complimentary, value-added member benefit providing in-depth studies that examine the crucial issues impacting the bio/pharmaceutical manufacturing value chain and the bio/pharma customer—supplier relationship. DCAT Research & Benchmarking studies are developed by the DCAT Research & Benchmarking Committee, composed of member representatives with diverse industry experience, to identify the topics of greatest interest for DCAT Member Companies and is administered and prepared using an external research firm.