Spring 2010
Executive debate: The price of flexible supply chains
CPO Agenda’s latest roundtable brought senior procurement professionals together in London to debate the balance between cost, quality and flexibility
Advancing on indirects
by Andrew Loken and Guy Strafford
A fragmented spending and supply base mean that tackling indirect items poses huge challenges for CPOs. But new research shows how they can make attention-grabbing savings
Procurement leadership: Dos and don’ts
by Stephen Wills
How should CPOs develop themselves and their teams so that they create respect and trust throughout the business?
Interview: Marc Engel, Scrubbing up well
by Nick Martindale
One of the world’s leading manufacturers of FMCG products, Unilever created a global procurement organisation only in 2008. Marc Engel, the company’s first CPO, explains how the late-starting function has evolved
Engineer fresh opportunities to control spending
by Frank Omare
Effective demand management is the next logical step to controlling costs and driving down inefficiency and waste. How does it work?
Chewing on Regulations
by Richard Brass
New regulations on relationships between supermarkets and suppliers highlight the benefits and pitfalls of third party intervention
When the CPO gets a request for a quote
by Rima Evans
CPOs have a central role to play in protecting organisational reputation by planning how they will react to a supply chain crisis
The Lessons of Toyota’s Recalls
by John Henke
Could the car giant have done more to prevent the recent series of mechanical problems? And what can it learn from the debacle?
Form an orderly line
by Alexander Arsath Ro’is
How can you tell if your strategy is aligned to what the board really wants?
Go with the cash flow
By Joris Bonants, Finn Wynstra & Frank Verbeeten
Supply chain finance is a simple way to free up money from your suppliers’ invoices.
However, a team from Philips and Rotterdam School of Management found there are a few
rules and lessons to consider before setting up such a system
Indirect benefits
By Richard McIntosh
Indirect spend in the retail sector is overlooked and underexploited, a survey shows
A tiny insight into a vast nation
By Steve Bagshaw
Four days in Shanghai for a procurement roundtable gave Steve Bagshaw an inkling of the commercial power yet to be realised by China
Just doing our job
By Eddie Lison
While times are tough is procurement stepping up to the mark? Eddie Lison says the profession still needs to improve its offering
Is there a hole in your synergy strategy bucket?
By Simon Rycraft and Claude Fidelin
During mergers and acquisitions procurement has a critical role in ensuring that IT costs are kept to a minimum and that software lives up to expectations in the new organisation, say Simon Rycraft and Claude Fidelin
