Supply chains – whether inward or outward – are of critical importance to any business, to ensure supply performance, control legal risks, maximise opportunities and preserve reputation.

We are familiar with the risks and opportunities attached to supply chains and the issues that need to be addressed, whether relating to manufactured products or for services, whether partnership supply, just-in-time or other variant of supply chain agreements.  Exclusivity, forecasting, supply and purchase commitment, service levels, intellectual property, change control, and liability limitation are but some of the aspects with which we deal in this context.

Case studies

• our client manufactures products for personal use and required a standard-form inward-supply agreement.  Apart from issues of intellectual property management, prompt delivery, change control and service-level performance, public reputation in the client’s consumer market was of critical importance and strong provision for quality control, ethical standards and auditing of suppliers facilities, with effective remedies for non-compliance, were essential.

• A client invented the concept of a new product and required it to be developed to production-ready status. It selected an Eastern European company to develop it and, if successful, to supply it. We drafted and negotiated the development contract, dealing with issues of intellectual property, resource application, performance, acceptance, design responsibility and related issues, and then drafted and negotiated a supply agreement, covering exclusivity status, forecasting, service levels, quality requirements, change control, intellectual property, and reputation protection.