Author Archives: Brianna Tonner

Friday Latte: Mobile Technology Struggles, Apple, Nestle's Ice Mountain Water, and Coca-Cola

Brianna Tonner - October 19, 2012 10:10 AM | Categories: Afternoon Coffee, Brianna Tonner

Struggles in technology Mobile revolution, economy trip up tech giants – (Reuters) – Mobile may be the future for technology, but even with the worldwide proliferation of high-powered devices like smartphones and tablets, some companies are struggling to maintain consistent revenue streams. Earnings disappointments this week from Intel Corp, Microsoft Corp, Google Inc and AMD underscore how Silicon Valley, both the old guard and new, is struggling to profit from consumers’ waning love affair with the stalwart PC and infatuation with mobile — the most significant tectonic shift in the industry since the advent of the Internet… A new 13-inch [...]

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Afternoon Coffee: Macy's New Brands; Twitter Silences Group; Google's Chromebook; Yelp's New Alerts

Brianna Tonner - October 18, 2012 10:10 AM | Categories: Afternoon Coffee, Brianna Tonner

Macy’s hearts Millennials Macy’s Unveils First Phase for Millennials – Macy’s today detailed the first phase of the retailer’s implementation of its Millennial initiative by announcing the rollout or expansion of more than 20 brands for its Macy’s mstylelab (primarily serving customers ages 13 to 22) and Impulse (primarily serving customers ages 19 to 30) departments. Announced in spring 2012 with an internal restructure to focus on this customer and a plan to be implemented in progressive stages, Macy’s Millennial strategy aims to position the retailer to attract and retain customers in the Millennial generation – now America’s largest and [...]

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Afternoon Coffee: Nike drops Lance Armstrong; New Kindle Tool from Amazon; Target to Match Prices

Brianna Tonner - October 17, 2012 10:10 AM | Categories: Afternoon Coffee, Brianna Tonner

Woah. Armstrong Is Dropped by Nike as He Quits Role With His Charity – A week after the United States Anti-Doping Agency made public its evidence in a doping case against Lance Armstrong, saying he was at the center of an organized doping program on his Tour de France winning teams, Armstrong on Wednesday stepped down as chairman of Livestrong, his cancer foundation, the organization that inspired millions fighting the disease. The fallout from the antidoping agency’s report also prompted Nike, the company that stood by Armstrong through more than a decade’s worth of doping allegations, to terminate his contract [...]

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Afternoon Coffee: Pandit leaves Citigroup; Amazon's Advertising; Google's Privacy Practices

Brianna Tonner - October 16, 2012 10:10 AM | Categories: Afternoon Coffee, Brianna Tonner

Pandit has left Citigroup Pandit Steps Down as Chief of Citigroup – Citigroup’s board said on Tuesday that Vikram S. Pandit had stepped down as chief executive, effective immediately, and would be succeeded by the head of the bank’s European and Middle Eastern division, Michael L. Corbat. His resignation comes after long-simmering tensions with the bank’s board. In particular, the board’s chairman, Michael E. O’Neill, had been increasingly critical of Mr. Pandit’s management, according to several people close to the bank… Will Amazon become the next advertising giant? Amazon’s Next Big Business Is Selling You – Facebook knows who your [...]

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Afternoon Coffee: Tata Nano coming to US; Sunland, Inc. nut recall; Amazon to buy TI's mobile chip?

Brianna Tonner - October 15, 2012 10:10 AM | Categories: Afternoon Coffee, Brianna Tonner

Cool and affordable. $3,000 Tata Nano coming to U.S. – A pocket-sized car for pocket change? It could soon be a reality for American drivers, but they’ll still need pretty big pockets. The chairman of Indian automaker Tata has announced that he plans to bring the $3,000 Nano micro car to the United States within three years, according to Automotive News. Ratan Tata told the news outlet that the 10-foot-long car four-door is being redesigned for sales in the U.S. and Europe… Double-check your peanut stash Salmonella recall expands to raw, roasted peanuts – Raw and roasted peanuts made by [...]

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Friday Latte: Boeing News, Another Bain Capital Buy, iPad Mini to Arrive Sooner?

Brianna Tonner - October 12, 2012 10:10 AM | Categories: Afternoon Coffee, Brianna Tonner

Boeing is setting some goals and creating quite a few more jetsBoeing gets grip on 787 supply chain with upsized jumbos –(Reuters) – A Boeing Co official said the planemaker has its sprawling global supply chain under control for its lightweight Dreamliner jet and plans to ratchet up production, a jump in output a Japanese supplier said could expose new supply bottlenecks. Boeing has outfitted at least four 747 freighters with wider fuselages, dubbed “Dreamlifters”, to gather parts from around the world for its 787 jet that are then assembled at plants in Washington and South Carolina in the United [...]

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Healthcare Matters Round-Up

Brianna Tonner - September 12, 2012 1:09 PM | Categories: Brianna Tonner, Healthcare Matters

Another Hoax: Samsung Did Not Pay Apple in Nickels – I have to admit it. When my daughter informed me with a “guess what Dad, Samsung paid Apple its billion dollar fine in nickels,” I actually fell for it. Naturally, I first questioned her hard, but she’s a smart kid and not prone to believe everything she hears. And definitely not gullible… Ascension/Marian Merger Reflects Industry’s Appetite For Consolidation – Ascension Health Alliance, the parent organization of Ascension Health, announced an agreement late yesterday to acquire Tulsa, Okla.-based Marian Health System, which operates 36 hospitals and 150 clinics in the [...]

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Spend Matters Friday Latte

Brianna Tonner - May 25, 2012 11:05 AM | Categories: Afternoon Coffee, Brianna Tonner

Today’s Afternoon Coffee is brought to you by Brianna Tonner. Say cheese (or, Facebook)! Facebook’s Instagram Clone — Only about a month after agreeing to buy photo-sharing app Instagram for $1 billion, Facebook Inc. FB -3.67% has moved ahead with the unveiling of its own app dubbed Camera. Facebook said in a blog post on Thursday that users of Camera can get a steady stream of photos from their contacts on the site, and sort through them with a few taps on an iPhone screen. The app is slated to be available on Apple’s App Store later in the day… [...]

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Spend Matters Afternoon Coffee

Brianna Tonner - May 23, 2012 10:05 AM | Categories: Afternoon Coffee, Brianna Tonner

Today’s Afternoon Coffee is brought to you by Brianna Tonner. Jason gives his opinion on SAP/Ariba in InformationWeek. SAP Ariba Deal: Not All About Cloud — SAP co-CEO Jim Hagemann Snabe spent a lot of time talking about the promise of cloud-based business networks at last week’s SAPPHIRE event, and now we know why. The company on Tuesday announced its intention to buy Ariba, a cloud-based business-to-business trading network, for $4.3 billion. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter, pending regulatory approval… As if he wasn’t cool enough… Apple design chief Jonathan Ive is knighted — Jonathan [...]

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Spend Matters Sites Round-Up

Brianna Tonner - April 24, 2012 12:04 PM | Categories: Brianna Tonner, Healthcare Matters, Metal Miner, Spend Matters UK/Europe

It’s been awhile since we’ve posted what’s going on with Spend Matters UK, Healthcare Matters, and MetalMiner. See below for what Peter, Tom, and Lisa/Taras/Stuart are up to. From Spend Matters UK/Europe PRGX and more on Spend Analytics – essential tools for procurement — We introduced PRGX and their SpendTrax spend visibility platform here recently – we were impressed at our demo by its speed and usability. In part 2 today, we’ll look at what you can do in terms of more detailed supplier analysis using this platform. The supplier management tool enables the user to dig into a specific [...]

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Best of Spend Matters: Friday Rants

Brianna Tonner - December 30, 2011 7:12 AM | Categories: Friday Rant

A Spend Matters fan favorite (and ours to write), the Friday Rant often spawns a lot of dialogue. Please enjoy the following collection of the most popular posts from this fall. Friday Rant: Do We Need a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for Supply Chain CSR Practices? — Enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) has now become one of the drivers in deploying technology platforms to monitor and assure certain practices of supply chain partners in terms of supplier management. The FCPA is a rather elegant piece of policy that essentially prohibits businesses and individuals from engaging in behavior [...]

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Best of Spend Matters: Oracle

Brianna Tonner - December 28, 2011 7:12 AM | Categories: Best Of, Commentary

Oracle OpenWorld Dispatch 1: Overload, Openness, Fragmentation, Glimpses of Some Solid Applications — I spent two completely scheduled days at Oracle OpenWorld this week (apologies to everyone else I know in the area who I did not have a chance to visit, but I can’t recall packing so many things into 48 hours before). Even though I’ll be sorting through my notes and sharing the highlights around Oracle Fusion Procurement, Oracle Supplier Lifecycle Management/Supplier Hub, Oracle Spend Classification, Oracle PeopleSoft’s new faceted SRM navigation and more, I thought I’d first sum up some general procurement-focused impressions from the show. Oracle’s [...]

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Best of Spend Matters: Supplier CSR/Labor Practices

Brianna Tonner - December 27, 2011 7:12 AM | Categories: Best Of, Commentary

Friday Rant: Do We Need a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for Supply Chain CSR Practices? — Even though I don’t necessarily believe we can extrapolate from UK consumer data whether US consumers will pay more for products and brands that showcase corporate social responsibility (e.g., products with lower carbon footprints than comparable items), I do find the results of a UK study quite interesting. The Guardian highlights some of the findings from a Carbon Trust research study showing “consumer demand for lower-carbon products and services is growing, despite the tough economic climate.” In addition, the “research also reveals that consumers [...]

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Best of Spend Matters: Sourcing

Brianna Tonner - December 23, 2011 7:12 AM | Categories: Best Of, Commentary

A company’s sourcing strategy can be a make it or break it element of success or failure. This year, Spend Matters (and sister site MetalMiner) have put a lot more focus into smart sourcing and the tactics behind it. (Shameless plug: we’re even throwing a conference on it!) New Research — Market-Informed Sourcing: A Game-Changer for Procurement — Peter Smith (my UK colleague) doesn’t give himself enough credit for his deep knowledge of how procurement technology works. He also fully understands the importance of approaching technology from a pragmatic business perspective first rather than through the geeky lenses that we’re [...]

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Best of Spend Matters: SAP

Brianna Tonner - December 22, 2011 7:12 AM | Categories: Best Of, Commentary

Supplier Enablement and P2P Roadblocks — Catalog and Content Management (Part 1) — One of the areas where companies often fail when it comes to bringing as much indirect spend under management as possible is catalog and content management. These tools enable the P2P experience by focusing on supplier self-service, multi-catalog search, configuration, and what we’ll term “virtual punch-out,” which includes distributed content search, aggregation and presentation of information (not to mention the application of specific rules to this distributed data). Providers in these areas can enable technically savvy business users (not IT) to administer the overall content and catalog [...]

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Best of Spend Matters: Supplier Management

Brianna Tonner - December 21, 2011 7:12 AM | Categories: Best Of, Commentary

For the next week and a half, the Spend Matters team is taking a much-needed holiday break (we have a lot of eggnog and 10%+ holiday beer to source). We’ll be running a lead post every day (so you can still get your analysis on if the mood strikes), and will be featuring a daily “Best of” through January 2. Happy Holidays, and be sure to check in on the 26th for our Santa vs. Hanukkah Harry smack down! SciQuest: A First Step to Integrating Sourcing and Supplier Management with P2P (Part 1) — SciQuest made the rather smart — [...]

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