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What does it take to build trust between OEMs and suppliers — and why does it matter now more than ever?
Dr. Angela Johnson, partner at Plante Moran and the new owner of the Working Relations Index (WRI), joins the show to walk us through the 2025 results and what they reveal about the automotive industry’s most critical, and often overlooked, business relationships.
This year’s survey shows the biggest gap between the top and bottom OEMs since 2007. Toyota, Honda, and GM improved their scores, while Stellantis, Ford, and Nissan declined, widening the divide.
Angela explains that this shift wasn’t because the bottom three necessarily got worse, but because the top three pulled ahead by leveraging long-standing relationships and adopting collaborative practices when it mattered most.
Internal alignment was another differentiator. Toyota, Honda, and GM worked across functions — purchasing, engineering, quality — while others struggled with silos and regional disconnects that left suppliers frustrated and confused.
Culture came up again and again. Angela introduces the concept of “embedded behaviors” — leadership habits that trace back to a person’s first real boss. These behaviors stick, often for decades, and shape how companies interact with suppliers today.
In GM’s case, even with ongoing issues like engineering changes and volume swings, suppliers recognized effort. They saw transparency, and it made all the difference.
Then there’s Ford. The team made a well-intentioned decision to outsource parts of purchasing to India, but didn’t account for how it would affect supplier communication. It created more confusion than clarity, and it showed up in their WRI scores.
One thing’s clear: good relationships drive real results. Angela shares how WRI scores have a measurable connection to financial performance, especially for OEMs like Toyota, where strong supplier ties align closely with same-year earnings.
The takeaway? It’s not just about KPIs. It’s how people behave. If you want better results, measure relationships and take them seriously.
Whether you’re a global OEM or a small supplier, the fundamentals are the same: communicate, treat people with respect, and stop thinking of relationships as the “soft stuff.”
Because in this industry, they’re anything but.
Themes discussed in this episode:
- The widening trust gap between top and bottom OEMs in the 2025 WRI results
- How strong supplier relationships directly impact financial performance
- Why responsiveness, communication, and basic “enabling behaviors” still matter most
- How internal silos and regional misalignment weaken supplier trust
- How leadership behaviors are passed down across generations in the industry
- Why measuring relationships—not just KPIs—is critical to long-term success
- The hidden risks of outsourcing without proper communication planning
- The cultural habits OEMs fall back on during times of stress
Featured on this episode:
Name: Dr. Angela Johnson
Title: Supplier Relations Analytics Principal at Plante Moran
About: Dr. Angela leads supplier relations analytics at Plante Moran, where she manages the Working Relations Index® survey and helps OEMs and suppliers build stronger, more collaborative partnerships. With a Ph.D. focused on OEM-supplier dynamics and over 30 years of experience in engineering, purchasing, and data strategy, Angela bridges corporate practice with academic insight to deliver fresh, actionable solutions across the automotive supply chain.
Connect: LinkedIn
Mentioned in this episode:
- Forced Labor Due Diligence Program
- Toyota Soars, Honda and GM improve, but Nissan, Ford and Stellantis drop in 2025 Working Relations Index® Study
Episode Highlights:
[04:25] The Industry’s Relationship Scorecard: The WRI isn’t just another industry study — it’s a 25-year benchmark of how OEMs treat suppliers, why that matters, and what it really takes to build lasting, cost-saving relationships.
[06:26] The Gap No One Expected: This year’s WRI results revealed the widest divide since 2007, with Toyota, Honda, and GM rising, and Stellantis, Ford, and Nissan slipping further behind.
[07:44] Trust Isn’t Built on Luck: Top OEMs like Toyota, Honda, and GM earned supplier trust through fair cost-sharing, strategic clarity, and simply showing up with strong communication and follow-through.
[11:13] When the Tide Recedes: Tough times reveal true behaviors. As pressure builds, both OEMs and suppliers snap back to old habits, exposing deep-rooted cultural patterns.
[13:36] Old Habits, New Damage: When OEMs rely on fear-based, transactional tactics, those old-school behaviors shut down trust before supplier relationships even begin.
[14:30] The Culture You Pass On: OEM behavior influences how Tier Ones operate, creating a ripple effect built on leadership habits that often start with someone's very first boss.
[16:54] GM’s Culture Turnaround: By focusing on communication, transparency, and relationship-building, GM is proving that real culture change is possible, and the numbers are finally backing it up.
[19:50] When Efficiency Backfires: Ford’s outsourcing move made sense on paper but failed in execution, leaving suppliers confused, unsupported, and stuck in a broken communication loop.
[21:48] Talk More, Earn More: Strong communication isn’t just good practice it reduces costs, boosts efficiency, and drives better financial outcomes for both OEMs and suppliers.
[23:58] Score High, Profit Higher: Toyota’s data shows a clear link between strong supplier relationships and strong year-end financials, proving that good partnerships pay off fast.
[26:50] Relationships Over Rough Roads: Despite ongoing challenges, GM earns supplier loyalty through strong relationships that help teams push past instability and stay committed.
[32:12] Start with the Relationship: Whether you're an OEM or a small supplier, measuring relationships—not just KPIs—is the first step to building a stronger, more aligned supply chain.
Top Quotes:
[05:25] Dr. Angela Johnson: “The other thing that people might not realize about the WRI, it's not just automotive. It was based on research across 18 different industries. And automotive, somehow, centered and came to fruition as the leading industry for this type of work, this type of study. I think we're heading into a point where other industries are recognizing there's something to these industrial relationships and maybe there's something we can learn and start to do things differently. So, one of a kind measures, what do your suppliers think about their key customers? Where's the place they're going to go to take their first to market innovation? Who do they want to partner with? And frankly, how well do those relationship help both OEMs and suppliers lower their cost? It's all about the bottom line.”
[08:00] Dr. Angela Johnson: “What Toyota, Honda, and GM were able to do is to lean into relationships that are already established. Now is the time to say we've done the hard work and we can take advantage of relationships that are established to better collaborate together and get more win-win outcomes.”
[13:45] Dr. Angela Johnson: “We get culture plays a role, but what does that really mean? This year, you could see that play out with those three OEMs that dropped, right? When I mentioned, if you go back to embedded behaviors, that those embedded behaviors are more aligned to old school methods. Pounding the fist on the table, threatening to take away new business if they don't get certain price concessions. If it's that transactional hard or threatening environment, then those relationships are never even going to take off, right? So, the culture plays a huge role.”
[22:27] Dr. Angela Johnson: “People should care about relationships because they impact their bottom line. If you have a good relationship with your supply base, it's just naturally going to be more transactionally efficient. What's it gonna do? It's gonna lower your operating cost. You lower your operating cost; it's going to increase your EBIT margin. Very much on the bottom line. From the supplier side, it will do the same thing. They'll be able to operate with more stability, they'll be able to better plan their finances and their operations, but they can only do that if they talk to each other.”
[32:48] Dr. Angela Johnson: “Let’s get the other OEMs in the survey. Allow the suppliers to be able to see how their experiences relate up to their competition or to suppliers for different commodities underneath that same OEM. So, if I'm an OEM, I'm going to be looking at my results. We bust these results down to infinite detail to come away with some very actionable items that they can go do to improve their relationship. Now, if I'm a supplier, it becomes a little bit different. Some of these Tier One suppliers, they're as big as the OEMs. They've got the capability to put in place sophisticated systems to measure the relationships. If they're not, if they're only measuring the KPIs—start by measuring the relationship. You need to know what it is that you want to get out of the relationship, and then define the measurable goals for all of your team members that interface with the OEMs.”
