Exploring supply chain data on Bloomberg and Workspace

Have you ever wondered where to start researching a company’s customer and supplier relationships?  Well, wonder no longer.

Bloomberg

In Bloomberg there is a whole section devoted to supply chain data. If you’re new to Bloomberg, we would advise booking some introductory training with one of the SOM Librarians – or at least reading our post on Bloomberg basics before you set up your account.

To access supply chain data use Bloomberg’s Supply Chain Analysis (SPLC) function, <SPLC>. Either type the code into any company screen and click on <GO> or, more experienced Bloomberg users can combine this into a search, e.g.  <SPLC AAPL US> <GO> to get the supply chain analysis for Apple, Inc. The SPLC home screen displays a company’s supplier and customer relationships in an interactive visual form:

The SPLC function aims to provide a “comprehensive supply chain breakdown for a company”. It allows users to analyse revenue exposure for a company against its customers, suppliers and its peers. It focuses on “actual business relationships” and helps to show the money flows between companies.

If you want an alternative view you can choose to display data in a table view as shown here:

This view includes supplier gross margins, inventory growth vs. sales growth, cash conversion cycles along with ESG scores.

To download, select the appropriate options from the ‘Actions’ menu.

Workspace

Workspace also provides supply chain data for companies via its Value Chain app. It aims to show the relationships a company has with its suppliers and customers.

If you have never used Workspace before, you can register for an account using these instructions, then we recommend that you read our post on Getting started with Workspace for a quick introduction.   If you already have a Workspace account you can access it online here.

To access the Value Chain for a company, open any company overview, for example Meta Platforms Inc. (Facebook). Go to  the ‘Peers & Valuations’ tab and select ‘Value Chains’ (or simply  type VChain in the search box at the top left hand corner of the screen).

Several types of views are available – including grid / industry breakdown /geographic breakdown. Choose the one that meets your needs.

In the following grid view for Meta, the suppliers and customers are shown with information on where they are based, what type of company they are and a confidence score  (“Ranging from 0 to 100%, this score indicates how confident we are that the supplier-customer relationship is valid.”). Revenue and implied rating is also available.

Data values can also be exported to Excel for further analysis,

To get an Industry breakdown, hover over the icons for ‘Views’ at the top right of the screen. This shows the suppliers and customers by broad industry areas.  Clicking on the individual industry name will display individual company names.

Want to find out more about these resources? Please contact the SOM Library.

Feature image from Pixabay. Available at: https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/11/27/21/42/stock-1863880_960_720.jpg