Delivering and Deriving Value

Suppliers and Business Partners

The Value of Relationships

Supplier relationships are integral to our business. Our value creation begins with the products and services provided by suppliers, followed by meticulous and consistent execution to ensure quality in all its forms right through the value chain. Thus the success of our business partners is inextricably linked with our own.

Relationship Building

Our supplier base is diverse, ranging from local micro-enterprises to world-class global companies in varied sectors. We have long-standing relationships with the majority of suppliers, and work closely with them to ensure high levels of performance in all aspects of compliance, quality and social responsibility.

In the local scene, Hayleys pioneered the out-grower and subcontractor model in Sri Lanka for over three decades. This is essentially a backward integration strategy that enhances supplier relations while providing an assured income stream to rural farmers. We support such arrangements with a range of services that include impact assessments, studies on farmer profitability and productivity, and training programmes. Our out-grower network presently exceeds 4,200 suppliers, with over a third engaged in growing gherkins for the export market.

Some of the relationships with our global suppliers span over half a century. Many of them have withstood changing and demanding circumstances, mainly arising from international mergers and acquisitions.

For instance, in Fibre and Purification we have a supplier base exceeding 350, with the average duration of the relationship lasting about 15 years.

Partnering with overseas investors in our projects is an important part of our business strategy as they add significant value in terms of access to technology as well as markets.