Category Archives: Global Supply Issues/Risk
It’s Super Bowl week here in Indianapolis. More than 11,000 volunteers are prepared to make Super Bowl XLVI an amazing experience for the fans, tourists and locals. Just today I heard that the NFL experience attracted a record 42,000+ visitors on Saturday. And as the teams are arriving Monday, it comes to mind how making the Super Bowl is a huge victory for any football team; think of it like accomplishing the executive mandate of the sourcing world. So, what … More
In Part 1, I discussed serveral companies discussed in the Gartner Webinar that recognize the importance of having a good balance of understanding product and opertional excellence. You can read Part 1 here. One of Burkett’s major points in this Webinar is that to realize value across a products’ lifecycle a company must consider the product, supply chain and demand from the beginning of the its life. They must anticipate challenges in early introduction and have created a supply chain … More
Michael Burkett, VP Research at Gartner conducted a compelling Webinar last week titled, “New Supply Chain Strategies to Maximize Product Value and Growth.” The key message of Burkett’s presentation is that product value is maximized when the supply chain is considered and integrated throughout the product’s lifecycle. New products fail 50% of the time. Why? Contributing factors include product cost issues, inventory shortages and poor commercialization process, to name a few. Profitable innovation is key to bringing new products to … More
The 12th Annual ISM Services Conference, this year held in Phoenix, AZ December 1-2, focused on many topics dealing with the challenges involved in sourcing things like temporary labor, marketing agencies, and legal services. The conference had a full agenda, covering topics such as Building a High-Impact Indirect Sourcing Function and The Five Golden Rules of Negotiation. Several of the sessions are summarized below: Enlightening Marketing Procurement: Maximizing Investment. Minimizing Waste. Presenters: Chuck Hatsis: President of Surge Consulting and Shannon Puhl, … More
Today, many children will roam the streets trick-or-treating, and people of all ages will attend costume parties and decorate their homes with all things “scary.” This spooky holiday got us thinking about what fears keep procurement professionals restless and awake all night. Below are three of the scary situations we came up with for procurement: 1. Supplier risk – Risk should always be taken into account as part of good supply chain governance. Without having a process in place to track and … More
Don’t forget to register for Iasta’s Webcast next week featuring Andy Bartels from Forrester Research and Seth Balsam from Ciena, Using Spend Analysis to Smooth the M&A Path: 4 Steps to Consolidate Your Purchasing Power, on September 21, 2011 at 11 AM – 12 PM EST. You will learn how to: Expedite M&A decisions through use of spend analysis Determine the taxonomy system that best fits your organization Tackle complex issues associated with importing data from multiple ERP systems, locations & … More
As Steve Jobs walks away from his CEO position at Apple, the financial and technology world has been speculating about Apple’s future. Steve Jobs is largely credited with supplying the magic that made Apple products so successful. He brought an alien vocabulary to the consumer electronics business when he spoke of people wanting poetry in the objects they use. He built Apple’s brand based on the premise that not only would people pay for that poetry they’d pay a premium … More
“Supply chains and the manufacturing industry have been on a rollercoaster ride, hit by skyrocketing prices of oil and commodities, high levels of debt, weak demand and tight credit,” said Barry Misthal, head of the global Industrial Manufacturing group for PwC, in a recent press release announcing a new report from PwC. “This report asks manufacturers if they have the right tools in place to adapt and prepare for potential future risks. The reality is many do not know who … More
Looking back fifteen or twenty years, large corporations utilized low cost country sourcing (LCCS) in order to maintain their competitive edge in their respective marketplaces. As time progressed, smaller companies followed suit. In many cases, finding/developing/investing in LCCS suppliers resulted in cost savings of 50% or more. Initially, most LCCS activity centered around the People’s Republic of China (PRC). As China’s infrastructure & labor costs increased steadily over the past ten years, India and several countries in Eastern Europe became … More
The United States’ economy is making headlines and causing much debate this week. Because this is not a political blog, I won’t go into details and opinions on that matter. However, I do believe that this economical downturn stresses the importance that now, more than ever before, is the time for procurement to lead the way to overcoming complex business challenges. Per Segerberg agrees and writes in a recent article in Supply Chain Management Review, “All over the world, the … More
When following the wireless industry, one is cognizant of the never-ending churn; services, companies, technologies, rate plans. Current examples are: (1) the pending ATTW and T-Mobile merger in 2012 (2) Sprint’s many issues with its investment in 4G Wi-Max provider Clearwire and new agreement with LightSquared (3) industry movement to 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology, thereby antiquating current equipment and (4) resellers positioning for the mergers and growth of their larger facilities-based competition. Now more than ever before, effectively … More
