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…)
A good bedside manner is a highly desirable component of a doctor’s skill set. A clinician may not be able to offer an immediate cure, but they can tell a patient what to expect and, vitally, provide a comforting influence. So what difference could this approach make to procurement? (more…)
I am often asked about supplier relationship management (SRM) and how to maximise results in this area. It is a topic of much debate and a Google search finds over six million results, so it can be hard to know where to start.
Organisations often fall into the trap of improving their SRM meeting structures and reporting processes without actually focusing on the accuracy of their underlying KPIs. (more…)
While everyone at yesterday’s Office Depot Strategic Thinking Forum in London agreed procurement and facilities management professionals (to which the event was directed) have got a higher profile as a result of the recession, there was a concern that the focus on cuts means best practice and long-term strategy would be lost. (more…)
The issue of late payment has loomed large in my life over the past week. Last Tuesday I was in Westminster to attend a roundtable on the issue, which brought together senior figures from banking, government, financial health, accounting and politics.
Last week I enjoyed the experience of working with MBA students at the University of Birmingham, on a day dedicated to concepts and implementation of SRM, when we snagged on the tricky issue of quantifying the benefits that result from supplier management. I suggest this is ‘tricky’ because there remains no consensus on the quantum of additional value that can be predictably achieved from SRM, nor how you would actually measure the benefits. (more…)
Supplier management is often the poor relation of strategic sourcing and category management. But it is an integral part of best practice in procurement and essential if you are going to get the maximum value from your supplier relationships. Few companies take a structured approach to supplier management, but when a medium to long-term view of the value each relationship could deliver is taken, such an approach can deliver competitive advantage. (more…)
The boom in the use of Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn is a revolution in instant communication and advocates swear by its effectiveness in connecting to wider communities of shared interests. For small businesses – particularly of professionals – it has become integrated into their daily life, and most now wouldn’t be without it (despite the occasional time-consuming over-indulgence). (more…)
How encouraging it is to see SRM and risk management being recognised among the main levers of procurement’s business contribution according to the Supply Management 2011 Reader Researchand this month’s news focus. (more…)
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