Last week I submerged myself in the January edition of Supply Management, where the topic of stakeholder relationships features extensively.
In addition to serving the needs of us procurement anoraks, SM also provides a valuable window on the procurement world for those outside the profession and yesterday I was – not for the first time – left wondering about how other business functions see procurement and what the latest raft of articles on ‘stakeholder management’ tells us about where the profession is today. (more…)
I recently picked up and reviewed, for a second time, a survey of companies operating in Western Europe, carried out by Capgemini and the Economist Intelligence Unit. In it, 86 per cent of respondents agreed that “business transformation has become a central way of working”. However, the percentage who believed business transformation was something their company excels at was only 30 per cent. That research was carried out in 2007 and I was left wondering whether things had improved. I suspect not. (more…)
It seems to me there was a failure to comprehensively (and repeatedly) assess the contractor’s capacity and capability to deliver what was (re-negotiated) in the contract. Perhaps there was a mindset that presumed a contract provides assurance of success. (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…)
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…)
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…)
He quoted a survey on skills shortcomings among procurement people, with 64 per cent of practitioners failing to demonstrate the requisite skill level when it comes to ‘executive influence’. (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…)
This month’s SM provided confirmation that, among 3,000 respondents, cost cutting was their number one priority for 2012. It would be a foolish professional who suggested that this topic was ever going to be eliminated from the role of the buyer. It has always been of critical importance and always will be, as long as organisations are competing to provide the best value products and services into a value-conscious marketplace. (more…)
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