Beyond the Scorecard: How We Built a Global Distributor Management System for Abbott Point of Care
During my Executive MBA at the University of Illinois, my capstone team was handed a deceptively simple task by Abbott Point of Care:
“Build a global distributor performance scorecard.”
The goal was clear: develop metrics that would help Abbott manage and evaluate its worldwide network of third-party distributors. Think: quality, customer service, profitability, and inventory management.
Simple in theory. Complex in practice.
Because distributors don’t operate in spreadsheets—they operate in reality.
#The Team and the Challenge
I had the privilege of leading a high-performing team:
- A private equity ops strategist
- A logistics leader from Stryker
- An advertising executive
- A corporate attorney
Together, we brought business, compliance, comms, and supply chain to the table.
We interviewed Abbott’s regional leaders from around the globe—across Asia, Europe, South America, and North America—to understand what actually made distributor relationships work.
#What We Discovered
Yes, metrics matter.
But the regions with the highest-performing distributors had something more: strong relationships.
Abbott didn’t just monitor them. They empowered them.
- They held joint planning sessions.
- Provided real training, not just PDFs.
- Held distributor councils and invited them to the table.
- And most importantly, they listened.
That’s what differentiated the top performers: distributors who felt like partners, not vendors.
#Our Solution: Metrics That Tell the Whole Story
We delivered a multi-level performance scorecard that could be used globally—one that captured both the quantitative and the qualitative.
Quantitative KPIs:
- On-time delivery
- Fill rate & inventory turns
- Complaint resolution time
- Gross margin contribution
- Net promoter score (customer-facing)
Qualitative Health Score:
- Depth of Abbott engagement
- Training participation
- Joint planning alignment
- Communication frequency and quality
- Governance (e.g. committee involvement)
Each scorecard rolled up from individual distributors to regional clusters, then to country, then to global—allowing Abbott to compare performance while still respecting local nuance.
#What I Took With Me
That project stuck with me.
Because no matter how good your dashboards are, if you don’t have trust, you’re just tracking failure in high resolution.
Today, I lead operations for PE-backed and growth-stage companies—and I still build systems that blend data with insight.
Because the best performance management systems don’t just measure.
They strengthen relationships.
They surface the truth.
And they help great operators become great partners.