How to Include Company and Partner Risk in Supplier Research: A Partner Research Log

You include company and partner risk in supplier research by giving it its own recorded step, not by adding a few extra web searches at the end. The step is a partner research log: one entry per company and per partner in the chain, recording where you checked, when you checked, what the source showed, and any red flags you have not cleared.

A partner is any party you rely on besides the factory itself — for example, a trading company, an agent, or a forwarder. Country and company/partner risk research is the scope described by the U.S. International Trade Administration’s “Perform Due Diligence” page, which links to official screening and commercial-guide resources. Treat what you find as research input: a check is not a certification, and a screening result is not certification of the company.

What belongs in company and partner risk

Two layers are covered. Country risk is about the operating environment of the country where the company and its partners are based. Company and partner risk is about the entity you may contract with and the other parties who will touch the order, using the official screening and commercial-guide resources linked from the Trade Administration page.

Where to look, and how to note it

Use the official resources linked from the “Perform Due Diligence” page as your starting points. For every source you open, write down the name of the source, the link, and the date you accessed it. The date matters because registry and screening information can change; a note without a date cannot be re-checked later.

The partner research log

Copy the log below for each company and partner. It is deliberately blank: you fill it during research, and you keep it even when a check returns nothing, because noting that you looked and found no match on the recorded date is a research result, while not looking is not.

Field	Entry
Company / partner name
Role in the order (for example, factory, trading company, agent, forwarder)
Country or countries involved
What you checked
Source name
Source link
Date accessed
What the source showed
Unresolved red flags
Next action and who owns it

How to record findings without overclaiming

Write findings in the language of the source. If a registry or guide shows a name, write that name; do not upgrade it to a claim that the company is verified, approved, or certified. A check is research, not certification, so the log should say what was reviewed and when, not that a company passed.

Keep unresolved red flags visible. If you cannot confirm who owns the trading company, or if a partner’s name does not match the name on the quotation, write that as an open item with an owner and a next step. Do not close it by assuming.

Separate commercial terms from risk notes. Incoterms do not prove quality or payment terms; they are contract terms to confirm case by case, and they are not evidenced by a risk check or a screening result. This article is not legal, customs, or regulatory advice; it is a way to organise research so that decisions and open questions are written down.

Next action

Start a dated log for the next company or partner you research and keep it with your draft buyer brief. Record the source behind each finding and the questions still open. The on-site Sourcing Desk worksheet does not send the log; any later human review, supplier introduction or next step needs a verified channel and case-specific confirmation.