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The New Trust Value Chain

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Trust is a precious commodity, especially in times like these. In the consumer products industry, it's worth its weight in gold–vital for success and long-term relationships between every link of the consumer products value chain from source to shelf and beyond! According to a recent Adobe report, more than half of consumers say that once a company has violated their trust, they will never do business with it again.

Our inaugural interactive report, "Trust is The New Corporate Currency: Building Durable Relationships Across The Consumer Products Value Chain," dives into how trust has become more important than ever before through engaging stories on our customers' successes along with insights from analysts, academics, and executives across the sector. It provides an overview of why trust matters so much at this difficult moment while exploring what your organization can do operationally as well as culturally to build confidence that leads directly to superior performance.Trust Report v1

So, what can you expect to learn by exploring this report?

This report reveals the importance of trust for organizational transformation and success, honing in on the CPG, F&B, and Specialty Chemicals industries. By breaking down each stakeholder's unique worldviews, as well as their expectations from consumer product organizations, it provides a roadmap to build strong relationships with stakeholders–leading to improved business performance. Offering practical guidance along with real-world examples, this document is an essential guide for making trust your North Star!

The New Trust Value Chain: The Four Main Stakeholders

In a world full of digital tools, social media connectivity, and an ever-growing global marketplace, businesses need to account for the needs of multiple stakeholders. Beyond just financial success measured by shareholders in stock performance or profits, trust–as perceived by these groups–is increasingly becoming a key metric organizations must satisfy: employees at home; suppliers across the supply chain; consumers engaging with their goods/services; and society within which they operate, all influencing business reputations and results. To remain competitive, successful companies are now tasked with nurturing relationships between themselves and each stakeholder group.

Here are summaries from the report of the four key stakeholder groups, starting at home with your employees.

Purpose Over Paycheck: Building Trust Among Employees

The modern workforce now faces a higher level of employee turnover than ever before. With younger generations prioritizing different values, it's critical to find fresh ways to attract and retain talent. Building trust through innovative technology can make all the difference in creating loyal teams that are motivated by an organization’s shared vision. By taking advantage of cutting-edge solutions designed for greater efficiency and productivity, businesses stand better chances for long-term success despite today’s climate of “quiet quitting."

An Extension of Yourself: Building Trust with Suppliers

In the midst of a global pandemic, we witnessed first-hand just how vital every link in our supply chains is. Our suppliers have become an integral part of organizations and their brands. But with increased complexity comes responsibility to ensure trust remains at all levels. Mutual transparency is key when it comes to collaboration: failure to alert each other on any changes or new developments can cause unwanted fallout that could severely damage businesses and reputations alike. To form strong relationships with your supplier partners, aim for mutual co-innovation through shared intellectual property (IP) exchanges–essential steps towards building robust trust amongst stakeholders throughout the entire chain.

Informed and Empowered: Building Trust with Consumers and Customers

Consumers are now more empowered than ever to make their voices heard through product reviews and social media, profoundly impacting the success of products–or even companies. To build trust among customers, businesses need not only listen but take action when things go wrong by giving a swift response with factual information; educating consumers on safety precautions; offering quick refunds if necessary; and creating an open dialogue where constructive feedback can be shared freely.

A Greater Perspective: Building Trust with Broader Society 

Build trust, and your business will prosper. To stay ahead of the curve, organizations need to innovate thoughtfully with a focus on sustainability: reducing their environmental impact; actively reusing resources; and recycling materials whenever possible. According to the United Nations, businesses in consumer products industries have an even greater responsibility for preserving our planet–one that should be taken seriously if they wish to remain relevant and build goodwill within wider society by treating employees, suppliers, and consumers fairly across all stages of production. The rewards can be great when this is done right. Increased market share coupled with community invitation allows us as individuals and corporations alike to continue making positive impacts!

Technology is the Missing Link

Building trust with stakeholders is no easy feat, but the right data-driven technology can help put you on the path to success. Recent successes show that cloud-based systems improve productivity and job satisfaction while helping businesses earn their stakeholders' confidence, which increases credibility in a competitive market. By meeting your customers where they are via unified digital tools, you can establish lasting relationships based on mutual respect and trust. This will ensure your business remains at the forefront for years to come!

The Bottom Line

Addressing the challenges identified in the report requires a collective effort and deep collaboration across your company and industry value chains, supported by the expertise of your partners. You cannot solve them alone. 

At the end of the day, we observe that it comes down to a simple equation: Trust is the product of transparency plus integrity. At Veeva, we have a critical role in helping you reimagine business opportunities and establish new capabilities to bring trusted products to market while not compromising quality or compliance.

Want to learn more about building trust across all your stakeholders?

Read the full executive report: Trust is the New Corporate Currency: Building Durable Relationships Across the Consumer Products Value Chain.

And please feel free to get in touch with me personally at Greg.Harbin@veeva.com. I’d love to hear what stood out to you from the report and discuss how your organization is approaching trust.

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