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The following story about Procurement integrity is true; no names or companies will be mentioned.
“Hello, Rebecca. Great to hear from you this morning. What can I do for you today?” I said to my direct report on my cell phone.
“We have a situation that needs your attention.” Her voice foretold that this was one to pay extra attention to.
“What’s up?”
Continue reading “Procurement Integrity Breach – A Sure Way to Get Fired!”There has been transformation in the Procurement function over the past decade. From the starting point of the traditional buy-sell, transaction-based purchasing, the practice has moved through stages of change that redefines most aspects of the business and the future of Procurement.
A typical Purchasing Function is limited to the transactional job of collecting information about the requirements of user departments and carrying out commercial checks and balances to finally procure the product & service based on cost reduction only and focused on supply continuity.
Continue reading “The Future of Procurement!”Procurement is a core function in every single company. Whether purchasing goods or services to support the company’s product offering or purchasing goods or services to support the infrastructure and operation of the company, Procurement is key and featuring our best Procurement articles is more than appropriate.
Depending on the type of industry you are in the Procurement of goods and or services can be the largest, or one of the largest, expense areas. As such the ability to efficiently procure goods to meet all objectives of cost, delivery, quality, and more is essential for not only success, but for survival.
In this “Featuring” series article we are putting the spotlight on Procurement and Purchasing. We are presenting our Top 12 best Procurement articles with information, techniques and approaches which will have something for everyone to learn from and apply in their own situation.
Continue reading “Featuring Our 12 Best Procurement Articles!”Procurement and Procurement Spend. Purchasing. Commodity Management. Category Management.
They are all running their own businesses within their companies, or at least they should be, whether they realize it or not.
Goods and services spend in many companies is the largest, or one of the largest, expenses. And all of this is managed by Procurement personnel.
But do they manage this spend like it is their own business or do they manage it like it is just a functional job with transactional activities to be performed?
Continue reading “Manage Procurement Spend Like It’s Your Own Business!”The theory is simple! If you can increase spend levels through centralized spend aggregation across entities then you increase your leverage in negotiations. This leverage should translate to lower costs and better terms and conditions. But there is a spend aggregation obstacle course to be overcome first.
These entities may be different departments or facilities within your own company. They may be different companies under common ownership. They may be disparate companies within an industry. Or they may be unrelated companies spanning many industries.
The benefits seem clear. So why is there so much resistance when it comes to trying to aggregate spend across these entities?
Continue reading “Spend Aggregation Obstacle Course for Procurement!”Indirect procurement of goods and services can be one of the largest areas of expenditure in any company. And the operational impact that the provision of Indirect goods and services can have on a company can be significant, either positively or negatively.
Yet the lack of attention and focus that Indirect Procurement is often given is inconsistent with the true importance of this area. Indirect Procurement takes a back seat to Direct Procurement unfortunately.
But it is time for Indirect Procurement to stand up and be counted!
Continue reading “Indirect Procurement – It’s Time to Rise and Shine!”Doing business with suppliers located overseas or in another country can be an overwhelming and daunting task even for expert Sourcing professionals. But what if you considered Outsourcing Sourcing?
Recently a friend of mine asked me to have lunch with him and one of his associates. The other gentleman had invented a new product. He had a marketing plan. He knew what his cost point had to be on the product which meant that he had to have the product manufactured overseas.
But beyond that he had no idea on where to start to source his product.
Continue reading “Outsourcing Sourcing! 5 Lessons from Around the Globe!”For his entire career my Father worked in the field of Procurement. But the job titles that he had during his career alternatively included either the word Procurement or the word Purchasing. I seem to recall that one of his business cards included both words.
When I was young I thought I had a somewhat clearer understanding of what my Dad’s Purchasing job was. His job involved buying, negotiating, contracts, overseas travel, sourcing, suppliers, parts, services, managing, supplier qualification, product qualification, terms and conditions, quality issues and delivery problems.
But was that Procurement or was it Purchasing? Procurement sounded like a somewhat loftier and more sophisticated word than Purchasing but by the same token it also seemed like they were synonymous and interchangeable terms.
What exactly is Procurement? And what is Purchasing?
Continue reading “What Exactly Is Procurement? And What is Purchasing?”For a considerable portion of my career I have worked in the Manufacturing and Logistics/Distribution Industries. In these industries a segment of the Procurement organization is called Commodity Management, not Category Management.
However when I entered the Retail industry the group largely responsible for Procurement, amongst other things, was called Category Management.
At its core each group was procuring goods. But while there were shared responsibilities there were also key differences.
So what is the difference between Commodity Management and Category Management?
Continue reading “What’s the Difference Between Commodity Management and Category Management?”Early in my career I worked in a department that was responsible for the design,testing, sourcing and procurement of packaging materials. It was a great experience and introduction to so many aspects of the Supply Chain.
But one day one of my peers was fired. He was responsible for negotiating with the packaging suppliers. As it turns out he was taking kickbacks. When that was discovered and verified he was summarily dismissed. He went over to the dark side.
I never got the precise details but I don’t believe he could have got more than a few thousand dollars for his illicit efforts. More importantly he got a black mark on his resume, and in his life, that he could never erase.
That was my first lesson on the do’s and don’t of Supplier Relationships.
Continue reading “Procurement Don’t go to the Dark Side!”As we’ve chronicled on the Argentus Blog, it’s no secret that the world of Procurement is changing and fast. With automation, big data and burgeoning AI systems removing more and more of the profession’s “tactical” or “clerical” tasks, the Procurement report card is that companies are calling on their Procurement teams to be more strategic, more nimble, and more innovative.
They’re expecting their Procurement functions to deliver not just bottom-line cost-savings, but other sorts of value, adding to organizations’ overall competitiveness.
Procurement, you’ve come a long way, baby!
But a new survey of 200 C-Suite executives from a variety of industries and functions presents a rather dispiriting picture of the Procurement function today – or at least how it’s perceived.
Continue reading “Report Card: Most Executives Think Procurement Isn’t Strategic Enough!”Strategies for improving Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) are the hallmark of the Modern Procurement Function.
In this article we are providing our list of 10 strategies for effective Supplier Relationship Management and overcoming Supplier management challenges.
Continue reading “Strategies for Improving Supplier Relationship Management (SRM)!”Procurement professionals have the same question looming over their head on a daily basis about Digital Procurement:
“How do you plan on dealing with digitalization?”
Continue reading “The 3 Pillars of Digital Procurement!”As we come to the end of our 3rd year here at Supply Chain Game Changer it is time to publish our semi-annual 2019 Top 10 List.
First we want to thank our readers. Our audience and reach continues to expand with Supply Changer now being ranked as one of the Top 20 Supply Chain blogs in the world and one of the Top 15 Procurement blogs in the world. Both are record achievements for us.
Second we want to thank our guest contributors. With dozens of writers and articles we continue to fulfill our vision of sharing expertise and experience from all over the world.
We thank you for your ongoing support and ask you to continue to spread the word about Supply Chain Game Changer. There is truly something of value for everyone no matter what challenge you are facing each and every day.
Here we present our Top 10 list for the second half of 2019. Enjoy!
Continue reading “Our 2019 Top 10 List! (Part 2)”Where is procurement, outsourcing, sourcing, supply chain, and purchasing going? What is happening in the marketplace? What are companies thinking at the executive level and what type of actions are they taking?
First off, we will outline a few of our observations about what we are seeing first hand. Secondarily, we will include information from other procurement professionals and procurement firms about their experiences, what they forecast, and what they are seeing.
Continue reading “Procurement Experiences and Trends!”
