"Trust along Supply Chains" Seminar on August 20th 2026, in Zürich/CH

The seminar on 20. August 2026 will be held in english. It contains input from E2, group work and exchanges on potentials and challenges due to "trust along a supply chain". 

Why it makes sense: Building trust within supply chains unlocks greater resilience and efficiency

Suppliers who knew about a problem but didn’t say so. Partners who withheld critical information until it was too late. Certifications that confirmed compliance but said nothing about the actual situation at tier 4. The missing variable in supply chain resilience is not more data or better systems — it is trust.

In a supply chain with numerous components and many tiers, most governance architectures — contracts, audits, qualification processes — cover tiers 1 and 2 with some rigour. Beyond that, the relationship quality between tiers determines whether information flows efficiently. Research shows: procurement transaction costs in low-trust buyer-supplier relationships run up to five times higher than in high-trust ones.[1] For large companies, independent of EU-CSRD and CSDDD, trust deficits create serious compli­ance problems with rising supply chain complexity: a company unable to obtain credible infor­mation from deeper tiers doesn’t know its risks — only the absence of visibility. A supply chain that cannot surface problems early can fail operationally before it fails regulatorily.


 
[1] See: Sako, M. (1992). Prices, Quality and Trust: Inter-Firm Relations in Britain and Japan. Cambridge Univ. Press. // Newell, Ellegaard, Esbjerg (2019). "The effects of good­will and competence trust on strategic information sharing in buyer–supplier relationships." J. of Business & Industrial Marketing, 34(2), 389–400. // Dyer, J.H. and Chu, W. (2003). "The role of trustworthiness in reducing transaction costs and improving performance: Empirical evidence from the USA, Japan & Korea." Organization Science, 14(1), 57–68. // See also: Mena, C., Humphries, A. and Choi, T.Y. (2013). "Toward a theory of multi-tier supply chain management." J.of Supply Chain Management, 49(2), 58–77.

Content and structure: The Workshop

A 1-day in-person workshop with a practical, hands-on focus, in two sessions – and online follow-ups.

Morning — Diagnosis  

Topics: The economics of trust in supply chains, and a structured diagnostic built around observable signals, such as information-sharing patterns, or willingness to invest in the relationship. In the workshop, participants apply the framework to their own supplier relationships.

Afternoon — Intervention 

Topics: What builds trust and why it works: structural changes to contracting, communication, and relationship governance. How to measure trust and connect it to business KPIs and reporting requirements.

Participants leave with a set of pilotable actions, critical knowledge adaptable to context, and the language to discuss it credibly with peers and superiors.

Follow-up activites (included): 

The day is followed by

  • a group online session after 2 weeks, and
  • a 1-on-1 session for participating companies 3 weeks after that.

Date, Cost, Who should come, Who delivers it: Organisation

Date:  20 August 2026 (9 - 17 h)

Where:  Zurich (location & programme follow)

Format:  In-person workshop; online follow-up 

Who it is for:  C-suite, supply chain directors, procurement leads, sustainability officers

Group size:  Max. 16 participants

Price  CHF 950 per person  (Early bird til 1 July: 10% off  •  öbu members: 10% off )

The workshop will be lead by: 

Dr. Ananda S. Millard, Partner at E2 Management Consulting

Dr. Arthur Braunschweig, Managing Partner of E2 Management Consulting