In the next issue of Supply Management, out tomorrow – AWARDS SPECIAL ISSUE Featured Articles A spark of inspiration – How E.ON UK revitalised procurement with an innovative training academy Full details on all the other 2007 CIPS/SM Award winners Also this month In the NEWS – – Review sets £30 billion target – Firebuy [...]
Outsourcing presents no threats, just opportunities, says ex-head of the CBI Lord Digby Jones. It’s a positive statement and one some Supplymanagement.com readers may be glad to see. We have after all, been doing it for some time and there are very few large businesses that haven’t dabbled in some way. And others who have [...]
Proficient senior buyers were in short supply five years ago. More than three-quarters of respondents to a survey carried out by Accenture said they found it difficult to recruit qualified senior buyers, and two-thirds found it difficult to recruit buyers and sourcing analysts. The report said communication and teamwork, integrity and ethics, and supplier negotiations [...]
While reporting on the profession we have been struck by the number of procurement professionals with the same first names. Davids and Brians seem to abound in the male side of the profession, while there is a plentiful number of Sarahs and Barbaras among the women. There doesn’t seem to be much of a trend [...]
An SM reader has asked: “What measures can I take to prevent counterfeit goods entering the supply chain?” – Purchasing Officer, Portsmouth What do you think?
In the latest Soapbox, Robert Shaw, director of the Value Based Marketing Forum, looks at how procurement can help marketing with process and skill issues: “Procurement is well placed to assist and this will remove a heavy burden from marketing, allowing them to concentrate on more creative matters.” He adds that it can inject numeracy, [...]
I recently attended an event where a company’s finance director stood up and praised the value of procurement to the business, and the importance of working together. But despite seemingly obvious benefits, in a study carried out by consultancy CSC, almost a third of buyers said there was little or no support from their finance [...]
Do you worry about recruitment and retention of good staff? How about raising the profile of procurement in your organisation? You’re not alone. These things, however, do not concern Hewlett-Packard. Procurement at the technology company is so far advanced it has a lab of PhD scientists researching how it can apply game theory to predict [...]
Forget the conflict between sustainable procurement and cost savings. Forget the introspection about procurement’s role in the wider organisation. There’s only one debate that should be occupying the minds of buyers at the moment. Tie or no tie? Possibly inspired by David Cameron or former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe, many delegates have now abandoned the [...]
This week SM’s adviser panel was asked: Suppliers to my firm usually use third party couriers for deliveries. Despite spelling out specific delivery requirements, we often find deliveries problematic due to a ‘can’t do’ attitude from the carrier. What action can we take with our suppliers to ensure their couriers don’t let us both down? [...]
