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The Knowledge
http://www.spendmatterspro.com/pro/2013/05/22/25-procurement-productivity-improvements-you-can-make-right-now-part-1/
In April 2013, Spend Matters conducted a research study (sponsored by Hubwoo) with ISM (The Institute for Supply Management) to focus on how to improve procurement productivity. Even though procurement has a >10X ROI as a function, it is still under the same pressure as other functions to improve productivity, especially since they’re typically asked [...]
http://www.spendmatterspro.com/pro/2013/05/16/planning-a-long-term-response-to-the-bangladesh-factory-fire/
Despite the amazing story of the young woman rescued from the rubble after 17 days, the shocking death toll from the Bangladesh factory collapse is now around 1,050. To put that in perspective, there were fewer casualties in the South Tower of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Some of the Western firms [...]
http://www.spendmatterspro.com/pro/2013/05/15/gep-blurring-the-software-consulting-and-bpo-line/
Background and Direction Earlier this spring, Pierre Mitchell and I had the chance to sit down with GEP at their global headquarters in New Jersey. During the discussion, we learned quite a bit about this unique firm’s offerings, market positioning, and strategic direction. Because GEP is attempting to go where few have successfully gone before [...]
http://www.spendmatterspro.com/pro/2013/05/14/scenarios-for-ismmember-organizations-in-2020-5-paths-and-5-value-propositions/
In the first installment of this series, Scenarios for ISM/Member Organizations in 2020: Introduction and Context, we introduced five scenarios for member organizations such as ISM in 2020: Scenario A: Trusted Point of Reference and Industry Standards Scenario B: Embedded Organizational Extensions Scenario C: Custodians of Data and Knowledge Scenario D: Activism and Influence Scenario [...]
http://www.spendmatterspro.com/pro/2013/05/13/commodity-price-management-at-borgwarner/
Part 2: Going Deep in Profit Risk Mitigation and Improvement In Part 1 of this post, we introduced the general concept surrounding commodity purchase price risk management. Today, we’ll dive into some of the implementation details that are key to practitioners to building out this capability – not just for high-impact benefits, but also for [...]
http://www.spendmatterspro.com/pro/2013/05/09/our-evaluation-process-an-optimal-rfp-for-e-sourcing-solutions/
We recently reached out to sourcing solution software providers with a round of questions to understand how they position themselves in the marketplace: how do they deliver value to clients, where are their differentiators, etc. – so we can deliver the highest quality shortlists possible to readers like you. Today we’re offering an insider’s look into our internal sausage-making process in the spirit of full transparency for our PRO audience – sharing the RFP spreadsheet we sent to the solution providers a few months ago.
http://www.spendmatterspro.com/pro/2013/05/03/baswares-record-growth-analysis-beyond-the-reported-numbers/
Analysing company financial reports is something that skilled analysts build whole careers around, and it’s therefore risky taking on that role for Spend Matters (even if we do perhaps understand more about the underlying markets and products of companies in our sector than a general analyst might). But if you like numbers, as I do, [...]
http://www.spendmatterspro.com/pro/2013/05/02/scenarios-for-ismmember-organizations-in-2020-introduction-and-context/
Three members of the Spend Matters research team just returned from the annual ISM conference in Dallas. ISM is currently in transition, with new leadership that is making significant efforts to broaden membership appeal across the supply chain, expand the role and influence of the function, and become more actively involved in new activities (e.g., [...]
http://www.spendmatterspro.com/pro/2013/04/30/procurement-business-services-part-2-defining-building-and-delivering/
In the first of our installments on Procurement Business Services, we discussed how procurement must have a strong competency in managing itself as a services business, being an integrator and ‘assembler’ of external procurement services (including professional, content/information, and application services). But before we explore how firms manage to do this, we should first discuss [...]
http://www.spendmatterspro.com/pro/2013/04/25/procurement-business-services-part-1-the-promise-and-the-problem/
When AG Lafley (ex-CEO of P&G) spawned the famous “Connect & Develop” program with the goal of shifting the majority of P&G innovation activity from within the corporate R&D department to outside of P&G, he was essentially betting on the power of supply markets. If there’s another department that should philosophically agree with this principle, [...]
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