Over the past year, Supply Excellence has been tracking a growing trend for companies to rethink their sourcing strategies. For example, General Motors has made re-sourcing a cornerstone of its (ongoing) turnaround plan. And just last week a major food and beverage company told me it was rethinking supply lines for core ingredients.
Mattel’s Chairman and […]
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I was fortunate enough to spend last week crisscrossing Europe, meeting with procurement executives about their supply management challenges and initiatives for the coming year. It quickly became clear from my discussions that, while Supply Excellence has focused (possibly myopically) on the impact of the declining U.S. dollar and economy have had on American companies, […]
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With the run up in product recalls and food concerns last year, product quality and supply risk management have captured the attention of the C-suite and the general public. Supply managers have an opportunity to leverage this crisis to boost their brand in the organization and help their companies turn the strategic balancing of cost, […]
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In an interview with European Leaders in Procurement, Richard Nixon of KPMG (no relation to the former U.S. President) states that companies will “increasingly look to procurement to stave off the effects of recent volatility on stock exchanges throughout the world.â€Â
In his ELP interview (registration required), Nixon said companies will adopt a more cautious approach […]
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Reverse auctions gained popularity during the halcyon buyer’s market days of the late 1990s. Today, e-sourcing is standard operating procedure for nearly all large companies, as well as many mid-size firms. And reverse auctions are becoming as common as Abercrombie and Fitch T-shirts in your local high school.
Yet, despite their growing, reverse auction technologies […]
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Earlier this week, Google announced plans to get into the alternative energy business. The Web search and advertising giant plans to spend $500 million to buy companies and hire engineers to develop new and more affordable solar, geothermal, wind, and other alternative energy sources.
The “Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal” initiative plans to “produce one gigawatt […]
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Could your Thanksgiving feast be a bellwether for inflation and possibly (gasp) recession? Some economists think so. And the economic tea leaves seem to support this conclusion.
The American Farm Bureau Federation this week reported that the cost of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for a family of 10 has jumped nearly 11% this year — a […]
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From Lou Dobbs to Gartner, a panic surrounds offshoring and outsourcing. Yes, I am all for creating new jobs. As a worker and manager, I want the comfort of knowing my job is in demand and my team’s jobs are secure. However, as a consumer I am not willing to pay more for American-made products. […]
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Recent changes in government subsidies and environmental policies raise questions about the sustainability of China’s white-hot economic growth and could add costs to your China sourcing budget.
In a surprising move last week, Chinese officials landed a one-two punch on the country’s economic fundamentals, cutting energy subsidies and introducing tighter pollution controls. The moves increase costs […]
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We interrupt this regularly scheduled program (or, supply tip contest for those devoted readers) to plug a survey launched this week by Supply & Demand Chain Executive. The magazine is tackling an issue that I have addressed the last few months: Globalization. The five-minute survey will:
Identify the key challenges globalization is posing for purchasing and […]
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