How do buyers and suppliers ensure the same direction, or ‘goal congruence’, which seems to be the expression of the day, in tendering for contracts?
A UK Audit Commission report a decade ago cited six key reasons for ineffective procurement: (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…)
The G4S Olympic contract debacle certainly brought supplier relationship management (SRM) back into the spotlight during this year’s silly season.
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…)
In these days of ever-increasing pressure to reduce operational costs, companies are placing greater reliance on external providers of systems and software, outsourcing services and facilities management.
But while offering a variety of benefits, this approach generates new and sometimes unexpected challenges, which can have an impact across the organisation. (more…)
Supplier relationship management (SRM) is about developing two-way, mutually beneficial relationships with the most strategic supply partners that deliver greater levels of innovation and competitive advantage than could be achieved by operating independently. It consists of collaborative and relationship-building activities that are additional and complementary to supplier performance and contract management activities performed throughout the procurement lifecycle. (more…)
We are strong advocates of procurement embedding modern, robust business processes that are capable of delivering superior value. Category management is still one of the most important of these, but is it succeeding? What are the enablers of success and what are the major blockers and barriers? (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…)
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…)
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…)
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