This article aims to show how important it is for “large” organizations to implement a Supplier Development Program or PDP, which helps to strengthen relationships with those suppliers that do not have the necessary operational and financial muscle but that do contribute. to business growth and value generation throughout the supply chain.

The PDP should be framed in two areas. The first, related to the need to build strategic alliances with suppliers and the second; From the Corporate Social Responsibility that organizations must exercise are all their actors with whom they interact.

The two areas described based on trust, cooperation and solidarity, is what allows the Supplier - Client - Supplier relationship to be successful and that as the organization grows, everyone will grow at the same time and is what allows us to affirm that "we are all socially responsible ”.

1.1 The PDP Supplier Development Program

In the globalized world, organizations, in order to be more competitive, have had to look within; In other words, its efforts have been focused on improving the supply chain, where one of the main actors is the suppliers, since any dislocation generates imbalances, the implications of which translate into cost overruns; so the relationship with them is one of the links that strengthens the chain; As Michael Porter affirms, "historical loyalty or problems with suppliers can affect costs of inputs, access to inputs, during periods of shortage and services provided by suppliers" 1.

In accordance with the above, the organizations have started a process to build strategic alliances with their suppliers, based on cooperation, solidarity and business responsibility, where the "big company" contributes to the strengthening and development of SMEs and consequently, trusts in the potential they have, since they are aware of the importance of acting in a globalized and competitive market where the fundamental thing is to achieve the generation of value but being socially responsible, guaranteeing an integral and sustainable development for all its actors.

The above considerations are those that sustain a Supplier Development Program –PDP-, since the “large company” or “anchor company - EA”, in addition to the commitment to stimulate the supply chain, have the responsibility of marking the growth of the small businesses, respecting their autonomy and independence; since it is a way to contribute to the distribution of wealth and therefore to achieve growth and ensure sustainable development.

PDPs in the global context are not new; But in the case of Colombia and Latin America, it requires the political will and the initiatives of the EAs to carry it out and thus be able to overcome the barriers between Large and Small entrepreneurs, between the paradigms on the capacity and competencies of local entrepreneurs, and the generation of trust between the parties as a differentiating argument.

1.1.1 The rationale behind the PDP

Build long-term relationships between EA and its suppliers, based on shared principles and values that guarantee sustainability through continuous improvement of administrative, commercial, technical, productive and financial skills for the benefit of the actors that participate in the chain; in such a way as to allow EA's senior management to obtain an answer to the following questions: