- 03
- MAR
- 2010
PIU research featured in Procurement Leaders magazine
Author: Amy Huntley - Categories: Procurement Intelligence, Talent
In the second part of our look at demand management, we concentrate on talent and relationships. As the make-up of the procurement professional has evolved, so has the route that many have taken into the function, which could prove a significant advantage. With many procurement organisations now populated with talent that has previous experience working in areas such as marketing, human resources and engineering, the function has an in-built advantage when it comes to spreading the demand management word. more
- 02
- MAR
- 2010
PIU research featured in Procurement Leaders magazine
Author: Amy Huntley - Categories: Cost Management
Rather than manage cost, manage demand - it's a simple theory, but there are few organisations doing it well. Here, Michelle Perkins, head of research at the Procurement Intelligence Unit, takes us through some of the steps that CPOs can take to introduce a corporate-wide demand management process. The article, featured in Procurement Leaders, is based on an in-depth research project carried out by the PIU, the findings of which point to a long, difficult road, but one with a huge pot of gold at its end. more
- 21
- JAN
- 2010
Google limping in the battlefield of China
Author: Amy Huntley - Categories: Global Sourcing, Risk, Technology & Apps
In its latest move, Google appears to be defying the Chinese government by declaring it will stop self-censoring its search engine and could leave the world's largest internet market after email accounts of human rights activists were hacked into. more
- 09
- NOV
- 2009
Attitude – a little goes a long way
Author: Amy Huntley - Categories: Talent
It was the American author W.Clement Stone who once famously said: "There is little difference in people, but that little difference makes a big difference. The little difference is attitude. The big difference is whether it is positive or negative." 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
- 24
- AUG
- 2009
BP refining art of procurement intelligence
Author: Amy Huntley - Categories: Procurement Intelligence
If there’s one word that has loomed large over the past 18 months it’s ‘risk’ – but while for some companies it’s a word that brings out boardrooms in a collective cold sweat, one of the world’s largest oil firms has used its market intelligence operation to stay one step ahead of the game. more
- 13
- AUG
- 2009
Prompt payment fails to hit the spot
Author: Amy Huntley - Categories: Working Capital
‘Too little – too late’. That was the response from the majority of commentators when the UK Government, alongside the Institute of Credit Management, unveiled its prompt payment code for suppliers at the tail end of what was, by anyone’s standards, a miserable 2008 for global business. The aim of the code was to enable suppliers to receive payment for their goods and services at a far quicker rate in order to avoid the kind of cash flowcrisis that had crippled many small and medium-sized enterprises since the onset of the credit crunch. “The code focuses on ensuring firms pay their suppliers on time and do not attempt to change their payment terms retrospectively. This will be essential to help smaller firms maintain cash flow in the months ahead,” said Business Secretary Lord Mandelson. more
