Listening to suppliers can be the difference between success and failure

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New Research: Supplier Lifecycle Management

What Defines a Procurement Master?

Novice Negotiators – Your Counterparts Will Use Your Emotions Against You

BAE Systems seals seven-year procurement outsourcing deal

CombineNet Continues its Leadership Transformation (Part 1)

Case Study: Supplier diversity at CBS

Manufacturers turning to innovation and collaboration for survival

PL Forum Vienna: Unilever CPO Marc Engel on becoming customer of choice

Articles in category: Supplier Relationship Management

1. Why is SRM under-delivering? Part 2 Explore Procurement Leaders Network (May 16 2013) Supplier Relationship Management Its time to think the unthinkable and deconstruct SRM to better understand the mistakes that get made. In this guest post, Bill Young of Kestrel Ops builds on his previous post in which he looked at ways in which SRM is broken.   Thank you for the enthusiastic response to Part 1 of this article. I suggested five headline reasons for SRM’s disappointing performance; your feedback added some more but also contained one shocking thought which I have kept to the final paragraphs. But back to the possible reasons for failure: as suggested in Part 1, these challenges demand further ... (Read Full Article)

   Comment Mentions:   Vantage Partners

2. How to Source Complex Professional Services Explore Supply Chain Management Review (May 14 2013) Sourcing , Supplier Relationship Management Spend on complex professional services like consulting, marketing, and legal has long seemed impervious to strategic sourcing efforts. But the recent global recession and ongoing economic uncertainty has provided procurement teams with an opening to add value in these categories.  During this Webcast, Danny Ertel and Jon Hughes of Vantage Partners will discuss the challenges procurement organizations face in influencing complex professional services spend, share advice for gaining access and building credibility with internal stakeholders (who are often very senior executives), and offer proven strategies to deliver value on one of the last frontiers for strategic sourcing and supplier management. (Read Full Article)

   Comment Mentions:   JDA   Vantage Partners   Chrysler

3. Gigaba outlines vision for using SOC capex to spawn new black miners, industrialists Explore Engineering News (May 14 2013) Supplier Diversity , Supplier Relationship Management Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba reported on Tuesday that initiatives would be announced in the coming months to add momentum to a “comprehensive industrialisation and transformation programme” linked to the multibillion-rand investment programmes of State-owned companies (SOCs) such as Eskom and Transnet. He told lawmakers during his Budget Vote address that there was an “unyielding political will” to ensure that black industrialists, miners and professionals were developed and nurtured through the procurement policies and programmes of the various SOCs falling under his authority. (Read Full Article)

   Comment Mentions:   KPMG   Department of Trade and Industry   Transnet

4. Network Fees and Innovation: Are You Considering Supplier Opinions? Explore Spend Matters (Apr 12 2013) Procurement Technology , Supplier Relationship Management The Spend Matters team has observed that in technology and supplier connectivity/network selection, the majority of procurement and AP organizations lack empathy (and total cost understanding) about the impact about their decisions on working with suppliers. In fact, many on the “buy-side” don’t even consider empathy and understanding with their supply base – they make decisions that are then forced on their vendors (thou shalt transact with us through this channel and this channel only!) Yet suppliers are really important, especially in how they can engage with customers to lower their total cost of doing business. (Read Full Article)

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5. The evolution of supplier management Explore Procurement Leaders Network (Mar 5 2013) Risk Management , Supplier Relationship Management Historically deemed a subset of procurement with limited executive support and cross-functional involvement, supplier management has evolved to justify the creation of a standalone, enterprise-wide commercial business discipline.. Large organisations no longer need to be convinced of the importance of investing in supplier management – due mainly to common business sense but also to the multiple cases of material damage resulting from inefficiencies in supplier management such as Boeing’s supplier over-dependence, the European food industry’s ongoing ‘horsegate’ debacle, Lloyds’s 2012 vendor data scandal and sub-tier supplier labour violations impacting multinationals such as Nike, Walmart and Apple. (Read Full Article)

   Comment Mentions:   Apple   Nike   Walmart

6. 10 Guiding Principles for successful Supplier Relationship Management Explore Find The Edge (Feb 26 2013) Supplier Relationship Management , Leadership The media has been dominated by horror stories of supply chain failure over the past several weeks. Boeing’s Dreamliner lithium battery fiasco caused worldwide groundings of aircraft whilst the company threw all resources at solving the problem, getting planes flying again, and rebuilding trust in the brand. Despite an increasing number of organisations embracing supplier relationship management (SRM) in recent years, most implement programs with insufficient skills and capabilities at their disposal, and a lack of understanding of the capacity or bandwidth required to assure sustained success. (Read Full Article)

   Comment Mentions:   Boeing

7. Nine Rules for Stifling Supplier Innovation Explore Sourcing Innovation (Feb 3 2013) Supplier Relationship Management , Value creation Mark Perara recently penned a great post on Nine Rules for Stifling Supplier Innovation. Here are Mark's Nine Rules. 1. Be suspicious of ideas that come from your suppliers - your strategy, innovation and R&D teams know your business better than anyone externally. 2. Keep suppliers really really busy. Change your requirements and staff regularly so suppliers have no time to focus on innovation. Their account managers will be too busy to try and second guess what your business needs as well as not knowing who to speak to.  ... (Read Full Article)

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8. Curing a Supplier Diversity Headache Explore Spend Matters (Dec 13 2012) Sourcing , Supplier Diversity , Supplier Relationship Management Just about everyone in a US-based sourcing and procurement organization knows something about supplier diversity. We're even seeing an increased global focus, such as that on indigenous aboriginal-owned suppliers and content in Australia and Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment in South Africa. Yet few involved in the function know the nuances of how to impact diversity spending in practice, let alone where to get started.   One of the largest challenges facing diversity programs is need for greater visibility into spending activity. Everyone needs it. (Read Full Article)

   Comment Mentions:   Australia   Thomas Kase   Ariba

9. Improving dialogue is the goal of supplier evaluation Explore supplymanagement.com (Nov 9 2012) Supplier Relationship Management The appraisal element of a supplier evaluation programme is a means to open up and improve dialogue with key suppliers rather than the overall objective, a senior buyer has said.Speaking at the Procurecon 2012 conference in Brussels yesterday, Willy De Beucker, head of procurement – non metals at Metallo, told the audience he had learnt the value of such programmes is the communication channels they open up.   (Read Full Article)

   Comment Mentions:   Brussels

10. Toyota Durban plant hit by supplier strike Explore Engineering News (Oct 17 2012) Supplier Relationship Management , Transport & Logistics Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) on Wednesday halted production at its Prospecton plant in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, following a strike by one of its component suppliers. Members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) embarked on a protected strike at the Toyota Boshoku plant – an independent supplier of seats and door panels used in all TSAM’s locally produced vehicles. (Read Full Article)

    Comment Mentions:   South Africa   KwaZulu-Natal

11. Procurement in Sub-Saharan Africa – Walmart’s Success with Massmart (Part 3) Explore Spend Matters (Oct 15 2012) Supplier Diversity , Supplier Relationship Management , Retail & CPG/FMCG Please click here for the first and second installments in this series. Local supplier development is a foundational part of Walmart's efforts in South Africa and neighboring countries. Part of the retailer's rationale for this is to maintain Massmart's already stellar B-BBEE (Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment, aka "triple-B-double-E") rating, but also because certain items, like produce, simply has to be sourced locally for optimal freshness and availability. (Read Full Article)

    Comment Mentions:   India   Walmart   USA

12. Massmart’s contribution to supplier development fund set at R200m Explore BDlive (Oct 9 2012) Supplier Diversity , Supplier Relationship Management THE Competition Appeal Court has ordered Massmart to contribute R200m to a supplier development fund over five years as a condition for the approval of its merger with US retail giant Walmart. The decision by Judge Denis Davis came after the court asked for an expert report on how such a development fund could assist small, micro and medium-sized enterprises to become part of Walmart’s global and domestic supply chains. (Read Full Article)

    Comment Mentions:   Walmart   Competition Appeal Court

13. Procurement in Sub-Saharan Africa – Walmart’s Success with Massmart (Part 2) Explore Spend Matters (Oct 8 2012) Supplier Relationship Management , Retail & CPG/FMCG Please click here for the first installment in this series. Whether in sourcing or retail, the most difficult challenge of operating in a new geography (especially emerging markets) can be changing how consumers, suppliers and partners alike typically operate. As an example, Don Frieson described the prevailing business mode at Massmart before Walmart took ownership as a constant "Hi-Lo" retail mode.... (Read Full Article)

    Comment Mentions:   Michigan   Walmart   USA

14. Growing demand for supplier relationship managers Explore supplymanagement.com (Oct 1 2012) Supplier Relationship Management , Talent Management Demand for supplier relationship managers has increased by 19 per cent  since this time last year, according to recruitment consultancy Badenoch & Clark. The rise in the demand for these roles includes a 5 per cent hike between June and July alone. The company’s latest Talent Spotlight report revealed three key trends in procurement and supply chain..... (Read Full Article)

    Comment Mentions:   CIPS   Duncan Ward

15. Building a Procurement Business Case for CFOs (Part 1) Explore Spend Matters (Sep 25 2012) Supplier Relationship Management , Value creation A number of years ago before Spend Matters took off, I had the opportunity to work with an Azul Partners colleague, Brian Sommer, on a number of projects focused on highlighting the optimal ways of selling both internally, from a procurement perspective, and externally, from a sales perspective to the CFO.  Today, regardless of whether you're a senior internal procurement practitioner (e.g., CPO) or a solutions provider, the CFO is really the ultimate spend gatekeeper, regardless of procurement's reporting relationship in the business. (Read Full Article)

    Comment Mentions:   Azul Partners

16. New incubation support programme to boost small businesses Explore Engineering News (Sep 17 2012) Procurement Ethics , Supplier Relationship Management , Public Sector The Department of Trade and Industry has established a new incubation support programme to develop enterprises that would absorb and upgrade South Africa’s vast unskilled labour force, develop new technologies and strengthen the country’s economy, Minister Rob Davies has announced. (Read Full Article)

    Comment Mentions:   South Africa   Department of Trade and Industry   Absa

17. Supplier Development: Refreshing the Basics Explore Spend Matters (Sep 4 2012) Supplier Relationship Management , Manufacturing & Automotive Within procurement, supplier development, especially across a broader supply base (rather than select, strategic suppliers or those in crisis), typically gets short shrift. One of the fundamental challenges of supplier development is that the ownersh... (Read Full Article)

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18. Power remains in the hands of purchasers Explore supplymanagement.com (Aug 30 2012) Supplier Relationship Management An SM poll find 67 per cent of buyers do not believe suppliers are more powerful than five years ago. The survey follows the victory of dairy farmers whose protests against milk buyers’ plans to cut the price they were paid for milk resulted in all the companies cancelling or postponing their cuts. Although in that sector vendors demonstrated the power of collective action, two-thirds of buyers believe their power has not diminished over the last five years. (Read Full Article)

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19. Dirty tricks in the game: the divide and conquer approach to suppliers Explore Procurement Leaders Network (Aug 29 2012) Sourcing , Supplier Relationship Management Buyers are often nervous about suppliers deploying a ’divide and conquer’ strategy to selling. However, there’s nothing stopping turning this approach on its head.  A large organisation possesses multiple budget holders and poles of authority all of which can act as points of contact for suppliers. This allows crafty salesmen to exploit internal miscommunication and sell to the highest bidder. (Read Full Article)

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20. Ten Supplier Pricing Mistakes to Avoid When Dealing With Procurement – Pricing Leadership Explore Pricing Leadership (Aug 23 2012) Supplier Relationship Management Procurement organizations see supplier pricing mistakes every day. Understanding these will help you better understand what you need to do to maintain price when procurement is involved in the purchase decision. Mistake 1:  Not understanding the culture, needs and incentives of the procurement organization. (Read Full Article)

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21. Transnet, Eskom drive local procurement Explore Engineering News (Aug 14 2012) Preferential Procurement , Supplier Relationship Management , Public Sector Transnet's locomotive acquisition spree and Eskom's build programme present two of the best opportunities to increase local procurement, the Department of Public Enterprises said on Tuesday.It told MPs that Transnet's three contracts for the acquisition of locomotives had so far yielded a local procurement component of just over R1-billion. (Read Full Article)

    Comment Mentions:   Transnet   Sasol   Eskom

22. Massmart kicks off local procurement programme Explore supplymanagement.com (Aug 5 2012) Supplier Diversity , Supplier Relationship Management , Retail & CPG/FMCG South African supermarket Massmart has launched a local procurement initiative that it hopes will attract over 1,500 farmers over the next five years. The chain, which was bought by Wal-Mart earlier this year, has already signed up farmers in Ofcolaco in the Limpopo Province as suppliers through the Ezemvelo Direct Farm Programme. (Read Full Article)

    Comment Mentions:   Walmart   South Africa   Competition Appeal Court

23. The Game Buyers Play with Vendors Explore HBR Blog Network (Jul 26 2012) Supplier Relationship Management There was a time when customers wanted to trust their suppliers. They expected salespeople to take care of them. For the supplier, selling was all about figuring out what and how the customer wanted to buy. Relations between the two sides were cordial. But that type of customer — the relationship buyer — has been in steady decline, replaced by the economic buyer, who is in the grip of Procurement. (Read Full Article)

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24. Procurement Under Pressure to Deliver Explore mypurchasingcenter.com (Jul 3 2012) Contract Management , Sourcing , Supplier Relationship Management Despite cost benefits strategic sourcing delivers, procurement still is under increasing pressure to find new ways to create savings, says Constantine Limberakis, Senior Research Analyst, Global Supply Management, at Aberdeen Group. (Read Full Article)

    Comment Mentions:   Aberdeen Group   Russia   SAP

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