- 29
- SEP
- 2009
Cost modelling to the fore as firms take intelligent approach to sustainable future
Author: Mark Perera - Categories: Cost Management
By common consent there are two kinds of suppliers relationship management – one involves the fist and the table, the other, the outstretched hand and the voice of reason. And while procurement currently finds itself very much in a buyer’s market, the suppliers that have seen more of the former than the latter are likely to have long memories when the economy finally gets back on its feet. more
- 24
- SEP
- 2009
Cost savings in the spotlight but measurements still coming up short
Author: Amy Huntley - Categories: Best Practice & Benchmarking
The past 18 months have seen the spotlight fall firmly on cost savings, with every area of the business looking in procurement’s direction in expectation (and, in some cases, hope). Given the importance of maintaining profit margins and ensuring long-term stability, a number of high profile companies have introduced an almost unprecedented raft of cost saving measures since the credit crunch first bit in the summer of 2007 – some more successful than others. more
- 20
- SEP
- 2009
Handle with care – China sourcing comes with health warning
Author: Amy Huntley - Categories: Global Sourcing
If a year’s a long time in politics then 12 months must seem like a lifetime in procurement. Last September the financial world was shaken to its very core when Lehman Brothers became the biggest, and most high profile casualty, of the global economic crisis. Small wonder then, that supplier risk was priority number one for CPOs across the world with distressed supply chains posing the greatest threat to procurement, and the wider business world, in a generation. more
