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Chemical & Plastics Prices – 2023 & Outlook

2023 was a very good year for purchasing, where most products showed price decreases. This is in contrast to 2022, which was one of worst years for purchasing over the last 16 years. In August of last...

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Procurement’s (Not so?) Finest Hour

Procurement is undergoing a transformation, moving away from process and price and towards undertaking initiatives that demonstrate value for the business. Therefore, when the opportunity arises for p...

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Making the Case for Self-Sourced Talent Pools

As organizations continue to expand the use of contingent talent to supplement their full-time workforce, they are also seeking ways to optimize their contingent workforce programs to generate additio...

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Tips for Effective Light Fleet Sourcing

Fleet operations can absolutely be an overwhelming category to manage. Between deciding on the right vehicle manufacturer, understanding the ever-changing vehicle features, selecting the appropriate m...

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Empowering Procurement to Drive M&A Activity

The uncertainty surrounding Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) can be frightening for all employees involved, but often overlooked is the potential a merger can bring for procurement to hit the “RESET...

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Why Your RFP Responses are Failing

From buyers to suppliers, everyone knows that the Request for Proposal (RFP) process is… less than ideal. At the same time, it is often central to the procurement process, so sales teams everywhere should be prepared to put their best foot forward when responding.

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Low Hanging Fruit & The Snowball Effect in Digital Procurement Transformations

Talk to any procurement leader in an international company and you’ll hear some common issues being raised. The lure of technology (especially big data and AI) and dangled carrots of opportunity to digitally transform the whole procurement function are all great but hard facts are getting in the way.

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Procurement Is Not Your Enemy

This content was published on the MyComplianceOffice blog on June 30, 2020 “Most corporate purchasing is slow, opaque, and downright onerous—fueled by a broader objective to control spending.” A....

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Reflecting on 25 Years of Procurement Innovation

This content was made possible through a collaboration with JAGGAER Procurement is accustomed to thriving in the midst of constant change: always maturing, evolving, and pushing towards the next bigge...

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Book Review: The Ultimate Showdown Sales vs. Procurement

“The only time they don’t say ‘Drop your pants’  now is at the Christmas party.” (p. 10, Epstein on sales' common interations with procurement))   The Ultimate Showdown Sales vs Procurement:...

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Book Review: Profit from the Source: Transforming Your Business by Putting Suppliers at the Core

“When the CPO and procurement team participate in every critical stage of a product’s evolution – from concept development and the award of supplier contracts to the start of production and through th...

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Managing Product Sourcing and Collaboration from End-to-End

Procurement’s role always adjusts to support the needs of the industry and company they work in. For instance, new product development holds the key to revenue and differentiation for manufacturers. I...

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January 10-14: 10 Procurement Priorities, Sourcing in 2022, and Handling Supply Uncertainty

Happy New Year! In addition to being the first recommended events post of 2022, this week also marks the start of the LinkedIn Creator Accelerator program I am a part of. I was one of 100 creators sel...

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Recommended Procurement Webinars Oct 5-9: Sourcing Maturity, Risk, and More Risk

There are two very exciting ‘live’ events taking place this week – both of which I am proud to be involved in,,,  NESCON is taking place Oct 5-7 and features a very special keynote speaker: Gener...

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Transforming the Perception of Procurement in your Organization

While the strategic vision of an organization is usually consistent across departments, each function’s strategies to achieve that vision do not always align.  Just as legal and HR are there to e...

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Sourcing Connectivity: Managing Wireless Spend

Connectivity is at the core of the modern business. Whether your organization is comprised of one small office with 10 people or a large multinational employing thousands, it is key to find the correct connectivity mix to support your business needs. 

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Recommended Procurement Webinars June 15-19: Best Practices for Uncertain Times, Increased Resilience, Flattening the Cost Curve

Another week, another 10 events added to the calendar – all of which are taking place between now and the first week of July. There are 8 webinars this week and 11 next, and several events already listed for the week of July 4th. That may indicate that the pause in business that typically surrounds the July 4th holiday in the U.S. will be shorter than in more typical years.

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Recommended Procurement Webinars May 6-10: Spring Economic Update from ISM and Sourcing Desk True Stories

I have good news and less good news… The good news is that I added 8 webinars to the calendar on Friday (7 of which are in May). The less good news is that there are only 3 events to shoes from this week. Take a look at my comments below to see what I recommend.

If you are planning your webinar schedule beyond this week, I recommend ‘Executing a Successful Procurement Transformation’ hosted by Ivalua on May 29th. This webinar will be presented by Duncan Jones from Forrester Research on the study that generated so much buzz at the Ivalua NOW event in Paris a couple of weeks ago. If you are interested in some insights about the study, which focuses on the misalignment between procurement’s maturity and our perception of our maturity, you can visit Art of Procurement’s blog or read my own write up here on BMP.

BTW: If you haven’t already, sign up for our mailing list to be sure you get my weekly recommendations in your Inbox each Monday.

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Recommended Webinars August 20-24: Unlocking Digital Value, Collaborative Center of Excellence, Fundamental Negotiation Philosophies

It was really hard selecting just three events to recommend this week – even the webinars that I’m not highlighting below sound fantastic. They include a Supply Chain Now Radio event on attracting top supply chain talent and an ISM/LexisNexis event on applying the PESTLE framework. We also have ProcureCon Direct taking place in San Diego, CA on Tuesday and Wednesday.

If you’re planning a little further out, I recommend “How a Leading Wine Producer Is Making Digital Order Management a Reality” from HfS Research on September 6th at 11am ET. Come for the wine, stay for the digitalization.

BTW: If you haven’t already, sign up for our mailing list to be sure you get my weekly recommendations in your Inbox each Monday.

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Best Webinars 1/11-15: Challenging Fundamentals

Happy New Year! This week marks the start of a new year of webinars – and based on the first events out of the gate, 2016 is clearly going to be a year where it pays off to challenge the fundamentals. Click on the title of each event below to view the full description in our events calendar and to connect to their registration pages.

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