It’s probably far from the minds of tired European leaders following last night’s summit, but an announcement from the Chinese Ministry of Finance should give them pause for thought.
As reported by the state newspaper Xinhua, government departments have been told to continue to “buy China” (as well as ban the purchase of “luxury office supplies”, so Politburo officials can forget about ordering those gold-plated staplers). (more…)
So you think that business process outsourcing (BPO) is the next step in your firm’s evolution. But where do you start?
Most companies set out to implement BPO effectively, but many end up failing to deliver this. All too often I hear of lost bargaining power, ill-conceived short-term contracts and weakened commercial terms with suppliers. (more…)
I’ve spent much of my career in the procurement field and I’ve heard a heck of a lot of bunkum about the power aspect of the location for negotiations. I hear it again and again from buyers that ‘home is best’, with the ‘other side’ supposedly feeling more intimidated when they have to negotiate on the buyer’s home turf. (more…)
Since the start of 2012, I’ve been to the US three times and it is interesting to reflect on what is going on in the world of sustainability. It is tempting to say “not much” and make this a very short blog, but that’s not the case.
I never imagined I would spend time in Texas working on sustainability with a company that exclusively supplies big oil with capital equipment, but I did. I never imagined I would end up helping the United Nations deliver the Rio +20 event in a more sustainable way, but I have. I did not predict spending time with the UK, US and Canadian institutions for civil engineering talking about more sustainable infrastructure development, but I have. And I expect to be back in the summer, working with at least two other global businesses. And yes, I offset my flights! (more…)
I have recently awarded a high-value contract where the public sector establishment will have to find a way to develop a good relationship with a small private company to deliver the commissioned service successfully.
It was not easy to arrive at the solution, however budgetary constraints dictated the outcome and the private company’s offers was commercially more competitive and the small panel evaluating the tender responses was united in its outcome. (more…)
What will procurement look like in 10 years? None of us have the answer but we do hold the power to shape the future.
The buzz in procurement has long been about elevating its reputation as a business driver. That’s a tremendous goal for any procurement team and we should all strive for it. The starting point is extending our reach beyond our own department by transforming procurement and compliance into a company-wide initiative. (more…)
In 2003 a Harvard Business Review panel concluded that “despite years of process breakthroughs and elegant technology solutions, an agile, adaptive supply chain remains an elusive goal: maybe it’s the people getting in the way”.
This illustrates an undeniable truth; business plans, whether focused on growth, contraction, acquisition, integration or even business as usual are based on strategy and hard numbers, but their success depends on people and capabilities. This has a particular resonance for the procurement function as the both the technical and often, more importantly, the soft skills of the team, can have a huge effect on both the actual and perceived results. (more…)
I have just returned from Johannesburg in South Africa where I attended the CIPS Pan African Conference. And while it was nice to have a couple of days in the sunshine, more importantly it was very interesting to hear in person some of the procurement initiatives and strategies being used on the continent. (more…)
The winner of this year’s J Shipman gold medal award – the highest prize given to a purchaser by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) in the US – went to Joe Cavinato.
The ISM supply chain professor is credited with developing the profession by recognising that supply chain management goes beyond purchasing and procurement because its professionals get involved before the product is even created. (more…)
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