As procurement’s profile has soared, companies expectations of what they can deliver has become even more challenging. The CPO is now being asked to be accomplished in a growing list of skills and responsibilities: Financial, commercial, supply chain, legal Reduce cost, Increase revenue, Improve working capital, reduce tax Stimulate supplier innovation Enhance the brand Decrease supply chain complexity Reduce risk … Read More
Staying Centre Stage
Once the current economic turmoil is over CPOs will need to develop new strategies to maintain executive attention. The economic downturn has highlighted the role procurement can play as a creator of value but many CEOs still view the function mainly in terms of cost savings rather than as enablers of growth. Having gained the attention of the board in … Read More
Director of Supply Chain Finance – Specsavers
Yesterday, Specsavers placed an add for a Director of Supply Chain Finance. This is a bold move for which Specsavers should be congratulated and reflects the growing importance of Procurement and the Supply Chain. The problem for procurement is that they are seeking qualified accountants to apply for this job, not supply management experts with financial acumen. What do you … Read More
Marketing & Procurement – Natural Partners in Managing the Brand
Marketing & Procurement – Natural Partners in Managing the Brand Marketing & Procurement – Natural Partners in Managing the Brand – We argue that through their joint focus and contribution to the organisations brands and reputation, Marketing and Procurement should be natural allies. “Our Focus is on markets and brands, but without an effective supply chain, we cannot even begin … Read More
Tarnished Reputations – How Can Companies Win Back Trust?
The recession and financial crisis have shaken shareholders’ faith in corporate boards and management. How can confidence be restored? Read More
A Foundation of Risk: Supply Managements Other Pillar for Success
A Foundation of Risk: Supply Managements Other Pillar for Success A Foundation of Risk: Supply Managements Other Pillar for Success – The foundation for modern supply management strategy was built upon Peter Kraljic’s matrix, “portfolio analysis” model. Kraljic’s matrix added ‘risk’ to the well used Pareto Model and provided the foundation on which many procurement board presentations, organisational designs … Read More
IT vendors contract or buyers contract – Caveat Emptor?
A recent posting over on Supply Excellence left me questioning how far has procurement has really developed over the years. My major difficulty in using the vendors document starts right at the beginning of the procurement process – the message it sends to the vendor is that ‘the buyer does not know what they want’ and does ‘not have a … Read More
10 Reasons why Procurement should own the supplier relationship?
10 Reasons why Procurement should own the supplier relationship? 10 Reasons why Procurement should own the supplier relationship? One of the many battles in which procurement often finds itself, is its right to manage the supplier relationship. Often there is in no governance in place to support procurements claim. A claim which must be won if it is to claim … Read More
It's no longer a question of ‘should you outsource’, but why haven’t you outsourced?
‘Its not should you outsource’ but why haven’t you outsourced? ‘Its not should you outsource’ but why haven’t you outsourced? – CPO’s must have an outsourcing strategy for their company – we provide some pointers to help you develop your outsourcing strategy. Before outsourcing any part of their organization, companies should answer questions like the following as part of a … Read More
Procurement: Rising up the CEO Agenda
Most CEO’s and CFO’s could only guess about how much their company spends on goods and services, and certainly could not express this in terms of meaningful supply market facing spend categories. The reason for this is that it is not a requirement for financial statements or accounts, despite most companies spending between 30 – 80% of their turnover on … Read More