Strategy . Influence . Innovation . Process

SM reported AXA CPO Heinz Schaeffer’s view that procurement would become a centre for “spend intelligence” but was hindered by a lack of suitable talent. While I share this view in part, there are several key points that need to be addressed by CPOs everywhere if procurement is to reach its full potential. 1. There [...]

From the number of announcements by leading organisations in recent weeks there can be no doubt that corporate social responsibility (CSR) has established itself on the corporate agenda. SM has reported on HSBC, ExxonMobil, Siemens and Ford, to name a few companies that have recently announced sustainability initiatives. CSR is now being used at the [...]

For most supply management professionals the question is not if they will be involved in an acquisition but when. And in my own experience it can be a significant opportunity for procurement professionals whatever side of the acquisition they are on. In fact, a sudden and unexpected enlightened response to procurement by senior executives, resulting [...]

Organisations such as IBM, Volkswagen, Unilever and the Conservative party have all made the news recently with crowd sourcing – essentially outsourcing a task to a large group of people through an open call for answers. Crowd sourcing, cloud sourcing, open innovation – call it what you want. But it represents both a threat and [...]

Expanding procurements scope and influence is critical for CPO’s, if procurement is to develop its value contribution beyond cost savings. Here we discuss some mechanisms to help procurement leaders achieve this goal: The ability to expand the depth and breadth of procurements playing field, to take on greater spend under management and to move beyond [...]

A three part guide for CEO’s, CFO’s and CPO’s to assess how procurement can make CSR a competitive weapon in their organisations success In part 2 we discussed a stakeholder approach to CSR. Here in Part 3 we discuss risk management. Effective management of risk is key to sustained company growth and CSR issues are [...]

A three part guide for CEO’s, CFO’s and CPO’s to assess how procurement can make CSR a competitive weapon in their organisations success In Part 1 we discussed protecting corporate reputation. Here in part 2 we discuss a how a stakeholder based approach to sustainability can support a companies brand and reputation Corporations are accountable [...]

A three part guide for CEO’s, CFO’s and CPO’s to assess how procurement can make CSR a competitive weapon in their organisations success Here in Part 1 we discuss procurements role in CSR to protect the corporate brand and reputation. The events that have recently hit Toyota and more recently BP and Johnson & Johnson [...]

A three part guide for CEO’s, CFO’s and CPO’s to assess how procurement can make a critical difference to capturing the value in M&A In Part 2 we discussed pre-planning and due diligence. Here in part 3 we discuss integration By developing well defined processes beforehand to manage these changes, procurement is best placed to [...]

A three part guide for CEO’s, CFO’s and CPO’s to assess how procurement can make a critical difference to capturing the value in M&A In Part 1 we discussed how M&A value is created and  the procurement capabilities required to  capture it. Here in part 2 we discuss pre-planning and due diligence Time is of [...]