Spend Matters would like to welcome back Pierre Mitchell, in his second post in this series..
In Part 1 of this two-part post, I talked about the importance of separating the notion of procurement VALUE (how strategic is the value delivered to th…
Read the rest » SpendMatters
Today I’d like to welcome my old friend and colleague, Pierre Mitchell, to Spend Matters. In a series of posts, Pierre will be sharing his thoughts and soliciting input on key issues pertaining to procurement value and procurement performance. – Jaso…
Read the rest » SpendMatters
In my first job out of graduate school, I had perhaps the coolest job description any management consultant could wish for: to imagine and define potential futures for companies and industries. Obviously, there was a process behind this, but even wit…
Read the rest » SpendMatters
On a recent call to discuss top trends in 2010, Chris Sawchuk of the Hackett Group said that procurement departments in many companies are looking to beef up their talent this year. It seems that the value of strategic-minded, savvy procurement pros became more clear during this brutal recession, where extracting value for every penny [...]
Read the rest » Supply Excellence
What will a thriving procurement function look like over the next five years or so? In this installment of the series, I join with Gregg Brandyberry, my partner at Wildfire Commerce, to explore a critical skill we believe is necessary to procurement …
Read the rest » SpendMatters
Spend Matters research suggests that organizations collectively spend over a trillion dollars per year on a range of services categories. From legal to marketing to print to outsourcing, organizational spending across a breadth of often complicated a…
Read the rest » SpendMatters
For the past few weeks in the Strategic Sourcing & Procurement Group on LinkedIn, members have been debating:
“What direction do you think buyer-supplier relationship is likely to move in the future?”
Lots of perspective, opinions and advice. A few of the highlights …
Collaboration is key
“Collaborative partnerships of joint win / win. New study from Strategic Account Management Association (SAMA) that interviewed 178 Procurement Professionals found they received on average 41% more value from what they term collaborative partnerships; meaning TCO focused, not price / bid everything conflict oriented. Companies that are still around and that have made money in the past have realized that suppliers are a competitive advantage and that focusing on total cost reductions and partnerships is the only way to generate sustainable profitability. “
All suppliers are not equal
“While most buyers continue to adopt ‘Theory X’ assumptions about all their ‘vendors’, and inhabit a ‘critical parent’ ego state, a small but growing number of professional practitioners stratify their suppliers and attempt to build rapport with key suppliers based upon the adoption of an understanding of interpersonal processes.”
Process & technology help
“Supplier relation management is a key topic for most of the Strategic procurement and sourcing professional and this will help in building a more balanced relationship between Buyer and Supplier”
All categories are not equal
“Its all about Profiling the Category of Spend and the Supply base. Every Category is different and will have different attributes given the industry of the buying organization, spend levels, size of suppliers and market conditions.”
The common theme that ran through most of the responses was a dislike of overly generic, sweeping statements. In effect, most were saying that at some point, different categories, industries, suppliers and market conditions require different approaches.
Any predictions you’d care to add? Leave them in the Comments or join the Strategic Sourcing & Procurement Group and post them there.
Justin Fogarty is Managing Editor of Supply Excellence. For any questions or feedback on the blog or its contributors, Justin can be reached at jfogarty[at]ariba.com.
=0)document.write(unescape(‘%3C’)+’\!-’+'-’)
//–>
Read the rest » Supply Excellence
After sharing his insights into supply risk management, Dr. Uwe Schulte gave a great example of when the best course of action to protect his company from a supply risk was … to do nothing. Of course, he stressed that choosing to do nothing and doing nothing by default are two different things.
Has anyone else ever reached the same conclusion about a particular risk and consciously chosen to do nothing? Care to share your story and results (anonymously if you must) in the Comments?
Justin Fogarty is Managing Editor of Supply Excellence. For any questions or feedback on the blog or its contributors, Justin can be reached at jfogarty[at]ariba.com.
=0)document.write(unescape(‘%3C’)+’\!-’+'-’)
//–>
Read the rest » Supply Excellence
In a 29 year career with Unilever, Dr. Uwe Schulte gained a great deal of expertise in managing risks to the supply chain. Last week, I was fortunate enough to see the good Doctor present his insights and then grant us a series of interviews:
Justin Fogarty is Managing Editor of Supply Excellence. For any questions or feedback on the blog or its contributors, Justin can be reached at jfogarty[at]ariba.com.
=0)document.write(unescape(‘%3C’)+’\!-’+'-’)
//–>
Read the rest » Supply Excellence
Last week on SpendMatters, William Busch covered the shutdown at a Canadian Ford Motors factory that was caused by labor unrest at an auto parts supplier facility in India. I provided my views in the Comments, but wanted to share them here as well, since Supply Excellence readers may also have some insights on the topic.
Unfortunately for Ford, this case caught them off guard and demonstrates how tricky risk management can be. You never really know where an impactful disruption might occur. However there are structured ways of being prepared.
Firstly one has to be aware of all the different kinds of risk that might hit you; disruption, financial, reputational or even major disasters like a tsunami. Probably nobody has the resource to cover every possible risk. During my time as global head of procurement, we developed a risk segmentation prioritized by profit at risk. This way one can deploy moderate resources and protect the business where it matters most.
In such an approach, one cannot stress enough how important it is to have solid, up-to-date supplier information. So, supply risk management and information based supplier management are two sides of one coin. You should not attempt one without the other. Fortunately today there are information providers and systems available to help with these tasks. However, this can only help if you get your spend management house in order and know exactly how much you spend for what.
In the past many have shied away from what can appear a daunting task that could potentially devour all of your valuable resources. With structure, good base data and possibly some external help, one can manage comfortably. This appears infinitely better than having to explain why 5,000 cars could not be built and huge sales are being lost.
Uwe G. Schulte’s LinkedIn Profile.
=0)document.write(unescape(‘%3C’)+’\!-’+'-’)
//–>
Read the rest » Supply Excellence