Daily Archives: March 4, 2013

Retail CPO Overcomes Print, Marketing, and Organizational Challenges

Thomas Kase - June 4, 2013 3:05 PM | Categories: Commentary

Today we bring you a category case study: the CPO at a large Massachusetts-based discount merchandising retailer (that we will refer to as “J-Mart” in this article) joined the new firm with a mandate to modernize its procurement function. Here is her story!

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Apple’s Procurement Strategy

Guest Post - June 4, 2013 1:53 PM | Categories: Commentary

Recently, news surfaced that Apple is planning to award more business to a relatively unknown company called Pegatron. Though the jury is still out on the success of such a move, it nevertheless provides some pointers on the procurement’s alignment with overall organizational goals. GEP takes a look at the potential benefits of Apple's decision, from risk diversification to margins sustenance.

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Webinar Tomorrow, Ticket Scalping, Private vs. Public Procurement, 3-D Printing Pizza

Sheena Moore - June 4, 2013 11:29 AM | Categories: Industry News

Peter Smith says our webinar tomorrow isn't quite a Bieber show but that you should come anyway. Also: the NYT discusses the "economic oddness" of ticket scalping, NASA is 3-D printing pizza, and The Guardian says that private companies shouldn't necessarily be considered role models for public procurement.

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All About Suppliers

Sydney Lazarus - June 4, 2013 10:09 AM | Categories: Commentary

We’re concluding this present whirl of webinar gaiety with one that takes a new look at a classic topic: the future of supplier management. Attendees can expect to find out why supplier management is becoming more central to procurement thinking, how a supplier focus can help procurement people position themselves better within their organizations, what are the best practice principles in supplier management that organizations can implement, and more.

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New Research: Making Spend Analysis a Big Data Supply Chain Application

Jason Busch - June 4, 2013 8:00 AM | Categories: Commentary

It used to be that spend analysis was focused on helping category managers, consultants and others tasked with identifying and implementing savings opportunities. Fast-forward ten years to today, and spend analysis has been put in a whole new context-- namely, as a tool to bridge the analytics gap between supply chain operations and the business.

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Mexico’s New E-Invoicing Requirements: CFDI Background and Compliance Requirements

Jason Busch - June 4, 2013 6:13 AM | Categories: Commentary

pesos Mexico recently accelerated the implementation of its e-invoicing requirements. The compliance requirements under the Comprobante Fiscal Digital por Internet (CFDI) are complex by any electronic invoicing standard. In a multi-part series featuring an interview we recently conducted with Invoiceware’s CEO Scott Lewin and VP of Marketing/Product Strategy Steve Sprague, we’ll cover everything you need to know about the requirement, beginning today with the legal and compliance background and compliance elements.

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Outsourcing – Key Recommendations for the “Implementation” Phase

Peter Smith - April 4, 2013 3:02 PM | Categories: Commentary

See previous posts in this series here: Procurement’s View of Outsourcing (Part 1) Procurement’s View of Outsourcing (Part 2) Procurement’s View of Outsourcing (Part 3) Outsourcing – Key Recommendations for the “Strategy” Phase We’re now into recommendations around the execution of outsourcing projects, dividing the recommendations into three sections – strategy (last week), implementation and ongoing delivery. As we said last time, we can’t cover every aspect of outsourcing good practice here, and for many experienced procurement professionals, some of what follows may appear somewhat obvious. But we hope even readers in that category will find something of value. Implementation [...]

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Continuous Improvement: The Key to Sustained Savings (Part 1)

Guest Post - April 4, 2013 1:26 PM | Categories: Commentary

1. What is a Continuous Improvement program? A Continuous Improvement (CI) program is a bi-lateral initiative involving the client company and the supplier which aims to realize value beyond rate reduction through initiatives such as product standardization, productivity improvements, waste reduction, right-sizing, etc. These initiatives typically realize savings while simultaneously reducing the supplier’s cost to do business with the client company. As a result, the supplier’s sustainability and consequently the service levels and quality associated with the category are not compromised. Additionally, these savings improve the overall process and create value for both parties above and beyond what can be achieved [...]

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International Food Aid, Unilever’s Sustainability Success, Facebook Phone?

Sheena Moore - April 4, 2013 11:48 AM | Categories: Industry News

The White House seeks new distribution strategies for international food aid – rather than buying from American farmers and shipping abroad, they want to buy local – saving millions in shipping costs. Unilever can now boast that over one-third of its supply chain is sourced sustainably, following the launch of their 2010 Sustainable Living Plan. Walmart can’t keep its fresh food shelves stocked because they’ve laid off so many employees. Facebook is expected to introduce its moderately priced HTC phone today.

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Supply Chain Impact on Shareholder Value

Jason Busch - April 4, 2013 9:49 AM | Categories: Commentary

Is it possible to quantify the cost of supply chain disruptions to shareholder value? Accenture thinks so. Based on research shared in the World Economic Forum Report, on average “supply chain disruptions can reduce shareholder value by 7%, with disruptions affecting stock prices even before formal announcements or coverage of impacts.” Moreover, stock prices do not recover “for months after the announcement” or specific news coverage. And “the longer it takes to resolve the disruption, the more negative is its impact” on shareholder value. These findings were based on an analysis of 62 supply chain disruptions between 2005-2011, using various [...]

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Beyond Procurement Outsourcing: Supply Chain and Direct Materials BPO (Part 2)

Jason Busch - April 4, 2013 8:01 AM | Categories: Procurement Research

The total number of FTEs dedicated to supply chain BPO relative to procurement BPO in the providers surveyed by Everest Group might surprise readers (hint: it’s lower for the former than for the latter, but not by much). As Everest Group gets into the relative scale of SCM BPO segments, the largest area of FTE focus is order management and fulfillment, followed by logistics and inventory management. Returns, MDM and RAC (reporting, supply chain analytics, and compliance support) have fewer FTEs dedicated to them in the provider community. One area of procurement BPO that overlaps with direct materials procurement is [...]

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Dispatches From Nairobi: Pirates of the Supply Chain

Thomas Kase - April 4, 2013 5:11 AM | Categories: Commentary

pirate With the procurement conference in Nairobi (see my previous dispatches from late March at the end of this post), an additional few days in town, and speaking with local Indian business men, students, people on the street, and fellow non-African business travelers, I got quite an education on one aspect of local supply chain management: dealing with security, especially pirates. This is a topic that I learned even more about than I had planned – and the takeaways are fascinating. Even before stepping foot on the African continent, I had a hunch that security would be a topic of conversation. [...]

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The Week of 3/4/13 on Spend Matters PRO

Sheena Moore - March 4, 2013 3:46 PM | Categories: Commentary

This week on Spend Matters PRO, Jason introduces a two-part series on some surprising survey results from an ISM webinar he spoke on last week. Among the findings? “Many organizations, even those with formal sourcing processes, have zero (or very limited) programs in place to implement savings results.” Read more here, and look for Part 2 later this week. Peter has outsourcing on his mind, and poses the question: How can procurement play a value-adding role in outsourcing exercises? And Thomas finishes his thoughts on ProcureCon Asia (see his first post here: Asia and Procurement “Emerged Markets” – Get Here [...]

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More Milk, Less Cows: Milk Production On the Rise

Guest Post - March 4, 2013 2:23 PM | Categories: Commentary

Spend Matters welcomes a guest post from Mark Kozlowski of Mintec. With last year’s terrible drought pushing cattle feed prices to a record level, you would be forgiven for thinking that 2012 was a difficult year for US dairy farmers. However, despite widespread reports of herd liquidation from the beef industry, the US dairy herd actually increased marginally year-on-year in 2012, with the total volume of milk produced over 200 billion pounds for the first time. While the US dairy herd stood at almost 12 million in 1970, it has now shrunk by almost 25% to just over 9.25 million. [...]

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Social Media and the Supply Chain, Safeway and Slavery, TOMS Selects GT Nexus

Sheena Moore - March 4, 2013 12:47 PM | Categories: Commentary

According to Forbes, social media are more interested in your supply chain than in your marketing. “We intend to eliminate human trafficking and slavery from our supply chain,” said Carl Graziani, senior vice president, supply chain for Safeway, during a session earlier this month. “Buy a pair/give a pair” shoemaker TOMS selects GT Nexus for their supply chain management needs. Bloomberg’s New York ban on large sugary drinks goes into effect on March 12, and businesses are preparing for the impact.

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Conflict Minerals Compliance: Supplier Management Platform Basics

Jason Busch - March 4, 2013 11:08 AM | Categories: Procurement Research

This post is based on excerpts from the MetalMiner (part of the Spend Matters Network) paper: The Definitive Guide to Conflict Minerals Compliance for Manufacturers: An A–Z Guide to Conflict Minerals and Semi-Finished Metals. Spend Matters PRO Subscribers can also click to read two more detailed technology analyses on conflict minerals compliance strategy here and here.   When it comes to gathering and documenting conflict minerals compliance, a supplier management or supplier information management (SIM) toolset can do a reliable job where A/P modules of ERP systems come up short with gathering documents, capturing sign-offs and fostering multi-tier relationships. The [...]

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